


Our Last Hope

by KaraLynette



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Physical Abuse, Rated Explicit for future chapters, tags to be added as the series progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-04-24 11:18:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4917523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaraLynette/pseuds/KaraLynette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi Ackerman hasn’t been able to remember the past 20 years of his life for over 9 months. Even after regular checkups with his doctor, he can only remember emotions and a few events. Faces, names, and places are all lost to him. He’s had to rebuild his entire life, move into a new apartment, get new jobs, and put up with immature co-workers. So when he stumbles upon a place that shouldn’t exist, filled with monster and magic powers, can he find his answers there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let's get this show on the road! This is my first SNK fanfiction and I hope that you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
> 
> This is a modern AU put alongside a magical girl AU, though it's more like selected people now have powers to fight the forces of darkness. Basically magical girl, but there are more boys than girls unfortunately.
> 
> I will warn now that this series will get angsty, but of course also really happy and cute when couples are introduced. Speaking of couples, I should mention the past relationships. I don't want to tag them since I could draw those people to my fanfic only to disappoint them.
> 
> There will be mentions, or flashbacks of past Jean/Marco and Eren/Bertolt. There will also be definite showings of minors ships like Mike/Nananba and Nile/Marie.
> 
> Also warning for excessive swearing, there's lots of it to come.
> 
> Now that that's out of the way, without further ado, my SNK magical girl AU: Our Last Hope!

It was stupid. It was so incredibly stupid that after 9 months, Levi was still trying to use his breaks during work to try and remember his past. There he sat, arms crossed over his chest will he worried his bottom lip between his teeth. He was leaning back in the old wooden chair, making it sit on its back legs. The creak of the wood was the only sound Levi could hear beside the occasional clink of tea boxes being picked up and then put back among the racks, or one of his co-workers speaking with a customer. The tea shop was usually quieter during the evening hours, and that was when Levi preferred to work.

He drowned out all the sounds around him to focus once more on his memories. Levi remembered the basics of course. He had graduated from high school, moved on to college, dropped out after 3 years and picked up bartending. He told his sick mother that he would find his way somehow, and she told Levi that she would support him however she could. With her help, Levi put most of his time into perfecting his skill and eventually, he was offered a job at a not too shabby bar in town. Levi couldn’t remember if his mother was still alive when he got that job. He couldn’t even remember why she had died, only that she had.

But all of this was old news. They had recovered this much in the very early months of his sessions with his doctor, who really should have chosen a different profession considering his last name. Levi had met him as soon as he had been brought into the ER 9 months ago. He introduced himself as Dr. Dok, but quickly said to just call him Nile. He had told Levi that he had been found in alleyway by two college students and brought immediately here. Levi never got a chance to meet those two, but then again, he had no interesting in meeting them. They had given their full reports to the doctors and the police, telling them everything they could remember. There was nothing else they could have done to help him.

Nile had taken up Levi’s case, even though he didn’t specialize in the field, he had said he felt like it was his duty as the first person Levi spoke to when he woke up. Levi didn’t like Nile in the slightest. He hated his way of doing things, slow and methodical, instead of finding the answer and just giving them to Levi. Levi wanted his memories back immediately, so he could finally understand the worse part of it all.

Levi couldn’t remember faces, or names, or places of anything but emotions stuck to him like slime. He remembered remorse and guilt, anger and pain, love and happiness, and then betrayal. Levi so clearly remembered being in love. He remembered for once in his life he felt wanted and needed by someone who wasn’t his mother. Levi felt like he deserved to keep living because of the person he had loved so much, but now, he couldn’t remember a single thing about them. The only thing he had of the person was a silver ring he had woken up with on his left hand.

Thinking about it, he uncrossed his arms and touched the ring. It was cool under his fingers and that chill touch relieved Levi of some of his stress when he felt it there. He spun it his ring finger, like he usual did whenever he thought of this person. He couldn’t even remember if the person had been a man or a woman. Not a single detail. Everything but the feeling of this person was gone, lost in whatever accident had taken Levi’s memory from him.

Levi gripped his hand tightly, turning his knuckles white as the anger came through him. What sort of monstrous event had been able to take so much of his happiness, his life before? What had taken away his love and left him with the bitter taste of regret in his mouth? His grip tightened only for a moment before he heard the sound of someone knocking on wood.

“Levi?” A voice called from his left and Levi let his chair fall forward, the front legs hitting the ground as he released his hand. When he turned to the doorway he saw one of his co-workers looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Levi knew the kid decently enough, his name was Eren. A college dropout, working multiple jobs to afford rent with his roommate, and actually one of the few people in the shop that wasn’t scared shitless of Levi.

Levi looked at the clock quickly, noting that it was about a half an hour to closing time and he exhaled, pushing the chair back and getting up. “You gonna help clean this time or are you gonna run off like usual?” Levi asked as he put the chair back in place and he could see Eren shrug in his peripheral vision. Whenever Eren worked evening shifts, he’d always rush out before closing time saying he had another job to get to. Levi didn’t want to make Eren late for his work, but god damn kid could help clean for once.

Eren looked at the clock and pursed his lips. He seemed to toss the idea around for a minute before he finally sighed. “Yeah, yeah I can stay.” Levi nodded and walked past Eren, pulling out his keys to the shop and heading to the front door. Behind him, he could hear Eren turning on the sink and grabbing dishes to begin washing them. Levi opened the door, the jingle of the bell ringing through the shop as Levi locked the door to keep anyone from coming in.

With Eren there to help for once they were able to clean up the store and set up for the next morning in a little over thirty minutes. Levi found that Eren’s cleaning job was tolerable, half-assed in some places but Levi had come back to worse so there was no reason to complain. While Levi was prepping the machines for the next day, he heard Eren shout something in the back room and he immediately turned in that direction.

“Oh my god, they’re going to kill me!” Eren voice had gone up in pitch, as he hurried out to where Levi was. “Levi, I need to run. I’m late and if I don’t get there in the next five minutes, I’m gonna get my ass handed to me!”

Levi sighed, looking around the shop quickly. He could finish the rest easily, it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes. “Fine, just go.” Levi answered curtly, and Eren took that as his chance to run into the back room to grab his things.

“I’m sorry, I’m trying to push my hours back but it’s hard to match up with everyone’s schedules.” Eren came out of the back shoving his things into his pockets and rushing to the front door. “I’m working on it. Good night!”

Levi didn’t even have a second to reply before the bell on the door resonate through the now empty shop, closing firmly once Eren had bolted down the street. Now that the store was once again quiet Levi exhaled, setting back to work. Levi had grown used to closing up on his own with how often Eren vanished, so he found it easier to do it this way.

Now alone he got that chance again to try and think. There was no one there, the work he was doing was easy enough, he could try and recollect his memories while doing them, but he was tired of trying. In the past 2 months nothing new had come back. Everything was old. There had been no new events, no new places, no new anything. Levi had thoughts to look through all of his computer files and mail a few months back, but again nothing turned up. It was as if the universe was forcing Levi to try and remember everything with no outside help.

Levi was sick of it. Sick of trying to remember things he obviously couldn’t, he scorned his past self for not keeping any notes of his life before. He had thought a couple times that he had deliberately done this to himself after some traumatic event. He had shown up in the ER rather badly bruised and with scars that he couldn’t recall. Maybe something had happened to him in the time he couldn’t remember that led him to seek methods to start a new.

No. That’d be fucking stupid. Levi scowled and stopped his work, slamming his palms on the counter. The slap echoed through the store and he was reminded he was alone. But then again, when hadn’t he been alone? This brought him to hold onto that ring, spinning it and trying to collect himself. Nile had warned him on multiple occasions not to get upset with himself for not being able to remember things, but fuck that guy anyways. This anger was not going away.

How could he have been so stupid to let whatever happened to him to happen? What the hell had happened anyways? The doctors had said there had been no head injuries, the bruises he had shown up with were nowhere near bad enough to hint at a horrible attack. Levi had no history with any illness that could have caused this amnesia, there was no explanation for his memory loss, and that’s what pissed him off the most.

Levi realized now that he was far too angry to get anything done. He called whatever work he had done good enough, and stormed into the back room to collect his things. Shoving them into his pockets he went to the lights and turned them off. The store became entirely dark save for the streetlights that shone through the tall windows. Levi went to the door, yanking it open and letting that bell jingle one last time before he pulled the door closed.

It uncomfortably muggy outside. Late summer was in full swing and fall was just around the corner. Once fall started up they would start getting a majority of their customers his co-workers had mumbled. Levi at this point, didn’t care as long as he got to continue working here during the day and at the bar at night. Levi wasn’t working tonight so he had the ability to just go straight home and that’s what he was going to do.

Levi tried to open the tea shop door again, and when it wouldn’t budge, he finally walked away. The streets were relatively quiet street traffic. Cars whizzed by on the street but there was no one on the side walk so Levi could just walk his own pace without having to swerve between anyone. It was horribly muggy yes, but at least it wasn’t as hot as it used to be. The weather had started to cool down finally and hopefully fall would be coming sooner than it usually did.

Levi scoffed at that. Sure, of course he could remember the weather just fine, but anything else was a big no. Levi walked with that scowl on his face, that anger boiling inside of him again, and even though he knew that it would do nothing to help him, he let the anger remain. He made no attempt of trying to set his mind straight, he just let it take him.

Levi kept walking until the cars grew fewer in number and it got quieter. He was getting away from the store district and into where more of the apartments were, where his home was. And with it getting later at night, Levi didn’t really expect to see a lot of people out at this time, but there was one person. Levi heard him before he saw him.

Levi heard quick footsteps cross the street in front of him and he saw a man, who for some reason looked familiar. The man was no older than 20, with blond hair that reached just above his shoulders and bangs that would fall into his eyes if he didn’t keep pushing them out of the way. The man ran into an alleyway in front of Levi and he had the idea to watch it for a moment. The city didn’t exactly have the tightest grip on crime so Levi was half expecting the man to pop out again in just a moment. But all Levi saw was a light coming from the alley.

It wasn’t like a lamp had been turned on, it was blue and dim, and accompanied by a sound that sounded almost like a whirling sound. As Levi approached the alleyway, he decided to peek around the corner, posture straight and hands at his side, prepared for whatever the man he had seen was doing back there.

Levi was wrong. Farther down in the alleyway he found the source of the glowing blue light. It appeared as a long, oval shaped swirl, tall enough for a person to walk through. The object shifted and moved as it spun, but it was stationary. It made no attempt of moving forward, backwards, or side to side, only to spin and ripple. Levi couldn’t take his eyes off it. Maybe the man was using a projection of sorts, there was no way the thing before his was physically real. But when Levi looked around, there was no trace of the man. He had completely vanished.

He looked once more to the swirling vortex before he sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes with hands. “Great, now I’m hallucinating. Fan-fucking-tastic.” When Levi opened his eyes he found the object to still be there. Levi decided that he didn’t want to investigate it any further in fear that it was just some elaborate set up to steal Levi’s wallet. Clenching his fists he turned back to the street and headed to his apartment when he heard a voice.

Rather, he heard his name. Levi turned back to the alleyway realizing the voice had come from there. It has nearly impossible to describe the voice other than that it sounded like an old dream. “Levi!” The voice came once more and he realized it was a woman’s voice. Levi felt a knot grow in his stomach and whether it was from fear or recognition of the voice, he couldn’t tell. He definitely recognized the voice from snippets of memories.

He couldn’t put a face or a name to the voice, but he knew it none the less. Levi went back to the alleyway and when he looked at the vortex once more he swore he saw it shift, as if something had just gone through it. Had the voice gone inside? Levi against his better judgment finally stepped into the alleyway. He remained cautious and kept looking around as he approached the portal.

Once he was in front of the swirl, he noticed something odd. As Levi stood there, he felt like it was trying to draw him in, like the wind was tugging at his clothes to get him to step inside. But more importantly, his left hand started to tingle. He looked down to it, half expecting to see something, but when he saw nothing but the ring on his finger, he wasn’t sure if he should have felt relieved or disappoint.

While Levi had been distracted looking at his hand, there came yet another sound from the portal. This time though it was someone shouting, a different voice than the one he had heard before. This one was deeper, more masculine than the voice that had called his name. The words well muffled over the swirling of the vortex, but the tone was urgent and fast. Levi leaned forward, trying to catch whatever was being said, his face only a few inches from the portal.

That’s when the tingling got worse, and then something grabbed him. Levi jerked back, but there was now something firmly wrapped around his left wrist, keeping him in place. Levi made a grab for what was holding onto him but recoiled when he saw what it was. He had been expecting to see a hand, and it was, but it wasn’t the hand of anything human. The thing that was gripping so tightly onto Levi was entirely pitch black, with long fingers and sharp claws.

Levi finally threw his other hand forward, desperately thing to pull the creatures fingers from his wrist, but it wouldn’t let go. Levi pulled back more with his legs, trying to yank the creature of the vortex, but it was having the opposite effect. Yet another of the creature’s hand came out of the portal and gripped onto Levi’s lower arm, and squeezed until Levi cried out in pain. Levi had been caught off guard and now the creature pulled Levi in, dragging him forward and tumbling into the swirling blue.

There was a whooshing sound before Levi felt his feet leave the ground. Before he realized it he was in the air, being thrown over by the creature that had grabbed him. He wrapped his free arm around his head before the monster let go of him and let Levi collide with the ground. The impact wasn’t as bad as Levi thought it would be, but he tumbled on the ground until he hit a wall. Levi pulled his arm back and tried to look at his attacker and what he saw, terrified him to the core.

This creature was not human had gotten that much right. What stood before him, hunched over, with its teeth chattering as it observed Levi, was something that should not exist. It was a horribly willow being, with long arms, legs, and a very thin torso. Its face was just eyes and a long wide mouth full of sharp teeth that clinked together as it stalked towards Levi. Its head twisted unnatural, turning out of place before it rattled back to look at him directly. 

Levi flinched as it grew nearer, using his legs to push him up further against the wall. He looked around quickly for some sort of exit, but he found himself in a dimly lit concrete tunnel. He could run either way, but he wasn’t sure he could out run the beast. Levi managed to get to his feet finally, pressing his hands to the cold wall as the creature got down on all fours and continued towards him. Levi took one more glance each way he could run before finally bolting down the hall to his right.

The creature roared and the sound was deafening, like the screech of nails on a chalkboard or a blood curtailing scream that turned his blood cold. Levi sprinted down the hallway and knew immediately that the thing was on his tail, bounding down after Levi and with each step he was growing closer. Levi felt the tingling in his hand growing stronger, turning more towards a burn now and when he looked to his hand this time, he could see something being etched into his hand.

Levi tried to get a closer look but then he felt something connect with his side. Pain shot through his bones as soon as he was knocked off his feet and set flying towards the wall once more. Levi groaned as he landed on his stomach now, gripping tightly on to his hand which now hurt more than the bruise growing on his side. He tried to look once more, but then the creature was upon him, hovering over his body and gripping his shoulders.

Levi could feel the things claws digging into his skin and he winced, reaching up to grab at the monsters hands. They were incredibly cold, like there was no life in this creature, no heart. Levi shoved his hands under the monster’s and managed to push them off as Levi hurried to his feet once more, trying to get away.

The thing yelled again and started towards Levi who was heading down the tunnel once more. Levi ran as fast as his legs could carry him, occasionally looking over his shoulder to see the beast growing closer, and closer, and closer still. Levi realized he always slowed down when he looked back, so he focused his eyes forward, looking for any fork in the tunnel or place where he could duck into to get away. And he spotted one.

Coming up on his left he saw a glowing light coming from a break in the tunnel and Levi hoped it was one of those portals he had been dragged through. Levi picked up his pace, feeling his heart thumping loudly against his chest as the monster grew near. As soon as Levi was there, he turned quickly which caused the monster to run past the tunnel, giving Levi more time.

Levi saw farther down the same glowing swirl he had seen in the alleyway and he ran faster. He was breathing heavily at this point, he had never run so fast in his entire life, so it was putting a strain on his lungs. But Levi needed to reach the portal if he wanted to live, so he continued. As Levi got closer, he noticed that this portal was different from the rest, it was growing smaller with each passing second and Levi only hoped he could fit through it when he finally reached it.

He could hear the creature catching up to him now, that high growling sound ringing in his ears as he ran. Levi was almost at the portal when suddenly the burning in his hand shot up his entire arm and into his neck. Levi cried out, collapsing to his knees as he gripped tightly onto his hand. He looked once more and what he originally thought was being etched onto the back of it was actually being seared, but he could make out what it was now. It was still glowing at this point but it appeared to be a pair of knifes? No, more like daggers. They were crossed over one another, the blades pointed towards Levi while the hilts sat near his knuckles.

What the hell was going on? Levi looked back over his shoulder and saw that the creature was stalking slowing towards him, those teeth still chattering away, sending a chill down Levi’s spine. Was this some ridiculous stress induced hallucination? Could he call all of this craziness and pain a hallucination? As he looked back to the mark which was starting to hurt just a little less now, he really couldn’t comprehend anymore what was going on. Whose voice had been calling to him and what was coming to kill him now.

The portal was so close, but Levi found that his legs were frozen with fear. None of thoughts were coming together and he had no way of convincing himself to move, to run from the monster. At this point, Levi had no hope of making it out of this alive, or rather, unscarred. For a split second, Levi accepted his fate. Came to terms with dying here and now, after all, he was tired of trying.

“But don’t you want answers?” The voice from earlier echoed in Levi’s mind. His head snapped up and he looked around, seeing nothing other than the portal, and the creature. Where was the voice even coming from? “Don’t you want to find out who gave you that ring?” The woman’s voice came sweetly to Levi, but it spoke in a tone that Levi could tell was of someone he used to know. 

Levi looked back to the creature who was now only a few feet from him and surely wouldn’t let him escape a third time. “Don’t you want to keep living?” At that question, Levi gritted his teeth. Of course he did. If he didn’t keep fighting he wouldn’t get any closer to his past. He would learn nothing if he died right here, he would die in vain if he gave up now. And that was the last thing Levi wanted.

He wanted answers, he wanted to know all about his past and to know who had been with him in the life he couldn’t remember. Levi wanted to remember, so he answered. “I do.” Levi managed to pull himself to his feet, turning his back to the portal and backing up from the monster who tilted its head unnaturally as it watched Levi. The tingling returned in Levi’s hand but it was tolerable, it didn’t hurt only reminded Levi of the marks presence. There had been no answer from the voice and Levi spoke louder this time. “I want to keep living. I need to keep living.” Levi looked down to his left hand, from the mark, to the ring as he continued backing up. “I will find my answers. I refuse to die here!”

The monster before him growled and Levi felt himself shake once more. “Then fight for your life.” Came the voice finally. The mark on his hand solidified itself, the glow finally fading and leaving the imprint as a black mark on his hand. Levi felt something surge through him in that moment, the burning sensation he had felt when the mark was being etched into his skin, but now going through his body. It didn’t hurt this time around, only filled him and warmed the core of his body until he swore he felt it reach his heart.

The moment it had engulfed his entire body the creature finally lunged forward at him, but for some reason, Levi felt as if he could fight back. Like he could get away. His body seemed to move on instincts alone and he jumped back, effectively dodging the beast. Levi didn’t realize he could jump as far as he did, let alone backwards. He had landed at least a couple of feet away from the monster which gave Levi the time to flick his wrists forward and he felt the burn rush through his arms, coming out through his hand.

The burn turned into something physical and Levi ended up gripping tightly onto two daggers, which had somehow managed to materialize from thin air. Levi would have been surprise, or acted as such if the monster hadn’t been heading towards him once more. Levi quickly the flipped the blades around, so that he was holding them backwards almost, he brought up his arms as the creature approached and once it was within striking distance, Levi jumped again.

As it turned out, Levi had used too much force in his jump and ended up hitting the ceiling of the tunnel with his back. For a split second Levi couldn’t breathe or move, and he realized the monster had followed Levi with its eyes and now unhinged its jaw as Levi began to fall. Levi tried to maneuver his body, to try and escape but for that moment where he had no breath, he could do nothing.

Levi had been so wrapped up in his deliriousness that he hadn’t heard another whooshing sound and then quick footsteps until he felt something collide with his stomach. Levi didn’t need any time to realize it was an arm and that he was now being carried by someone who had jumped in at the last moment and pulled Levi away from the monster. Levi was yanked from the air and landed with the person on the other side of the beast, he had half expected the person to drop him right there, but their grip only tightened.

Levi didn’t get a chance to catch the person’s face because the monster was running at them again. This was when they finally dropped Levi, getting him on his feet firmly before grabbing his wrist. “Run, now!” The man called to Levi as he tugged him back the way Levi had come. Levi finally just followed him, letting the man drag him back into the wider tunnel and where they turned left. In the better lighting Levi finally got the chance to look at the back of whoever had grabbed him.

The man dragging him had a messy head of dark hair that cut off right below his ears, the hand that was firmly gripping Levi’s wrist was a naturally tan color that Levi immediately recognized. Without even having to see his face, he knew who was dragging him.

“Eren?” Levi’s voice was quieter than he expected it to be, but it was enough to catch the kid’s attention. Eren looked back to Levi over his shoulder, his muted green eyes catching Levi’s and like before, Eren looked panicked.

“I’ll explain everything once we’re safe!” Eren shouted back, over the roar of the monster. “For now, just run!” Eren pulled Levi forward, until they were running side by side and even thought Levi could feel his legs getting tired, he didn’t dare slow down. Once they were both going at a steady pace that kept them a good few feet in front of the monster, Levi saw Eren bring his free hand up to his ear. “Hey! Who’s closest to the entrance?” Eren called and Levi for a second thought he was talking to him.

But then Levi heard it, a voice loud and clear in his head, speaking to Eren. “I am, what’s wrong?” Came the short response. The voice was of a woman’s, but not the one that had been inside Levi’s head earlier. This voice was deeper and more even in tone.  
“I have a new Weapon with me, he doesn’t even have a uniform yet. I could use someone who knows what they’re doing.” Eren clarified and Levi heard a new voice.

“A new Weapon?” This one was smooth and masculine, with a hint of an accent Levi couldn’t place. “I thought they stopped recruiting years ago?”

“I thought so too, but right now I need this Corrupt off our asses. I can’t protect him if he isn’t fighting it.” Eren looked to Levi and Levi wasn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t even sure what the hell was going on. He had no clue whose voices he was hearing and no clue what a Weapon was. But from the context he was able to pick up at least that the thing chasing him was called a Corrupt, and looking back at it, the name seemed fitting.

“I’m on my way. Pick the sucker up if you need to.” The woman barked.

“Wait, Mikasa!” Eren shouted quickly. “Just, don’t go crazy when you see him, okay?” The only response Eren got was a half-hearted grunt before the voice faded all together from Levi’s head. Eren looked to Levi now, having pulled his hand away from his ear. “Just keep up right now, she should be here soon and then I can explain.”

Levi looked back over his shoulder, watching the Corrupt gaining on them and Levi thought to himself, that even if he knew his legs were going to be incredibly sore, he was going to try to keep up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'll try and make Friday my regular update date, either that or move it to Thursday. But here is the second chapter of Our Last Hope! I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> This chapter is from Eren's POV.

The only word that came clearly to Eren’s mind as he ran, pulling Levi at his side was: Fuuuuuuuuuuuck. Eren glanced behind him, back to the Corrupt that was on their tail. It was a rather large one so Eren guessed this was one the one that had called all the rest of them. Hopefully when Mikasa dealt with this one, the rest would disappear so they could wrap up.

How on earth had Levi even managed to get into the Magic Space? Weapons hadn’t been recruited ever since Mikasa’s generation had graduated, so how had Levi been able to get a mark? And of course Levi probably had no idea what was going on right now, so Eren was stuck dragging him around until he could explain their situation and learn how Levi had gotten it in the first place.

Eren held tightly onto Levi’s wrist, though he wished he could have grabbed his hand at least. Grabbing onto his wrist made it easier to pull him yes, but it also could spook Levi if he held on too hard. He thought of moving to grab his hand quickly but he was afraid Levi would slow down or jerk away from him, so he maintained his grip. Eren glanced down quickly at Levi’s left hand, looking at the new mark that had appeared there.

It was still a bit red around the black ink, but that’s what all new marks looked like. He could see that they were two blades crossed over one another, which meant that Levi could wield two daggers at the same time. A pretty unique ability since Levi was entirely new to the Magic Space. Eren had even remembered seeing Levi with those two daggers in hand when he came into save him, but they must have evaporated the moment Levi had stopped focusing on them. At least he could summon them for now.

Eren could feel that Levi was growing tired, and of course he was. He had no idea how long Levi had been running from the Corrupt, and with his new powers, he probably wasn’t sure how to tap into his new energy. Eren considered trying to explain them quickly to Levi but then he saw something coming at them further down the hall, towards them. It took him a moment to focus on the feminine figure, seeing her hands starting to glow as she called her weapon forward.

Eren knew Mikasa was planning on just barreling right towards the Corrupt, that’s how she built up her strength, so right now he needed to get him and Levi out of her way. Eren looked ahead quickly, trying to find an opening in the tunnel to shove them into, and when he managed to find one to their left he gave a firm squeeze to Levi’s wrist.

“Just a little bit more!” Eren shouted to Levi, looking at him quickly and Levi nodded back, his mouth hanging open as he tried to catch his breath. Eren glanced again at the opening and realized there was only one way to get Levi in quickly without getting himself hit by Mikasa at this point. “I’m about to do something really stupid, so just, please don’t fire me!” Eren sped up and somehow Levi managed to keep up with him until they reached the tunnel. “Sorry!” Eren exclaimed before finally letting go of Levi’s wrist.

Before Levi could even look at him, Eren had jumped quickly until his knees were level with Levi’s side and then he kicked. Hard. His feet connect with Levi’s hip and he heard a loud “Ouf!” as Levi was sent flying into the tunnel and out of Mikasa’s path. Eren quickly flattened himself out so he hit the ground fast, just in time for Mikasa to jump over him to fight the Corrupt head on.

Eren heard her fist connect with the Corrupt before he saw it, he was still bit winded from running and from having the air knocked out of him so it took him a moment to get on his feet again. He heard the crack of the metal in Mikasa’s glove before it clicked back in place, ready to strike again. Eren pulled himself to his feet finally, planting himself in a position with his arms ready to use whatever he needed to help Mikasa. But she was holding herself together well, striking with one glove before quickly switching to the next, effectively distracting the Corrupt from Levi.

When Eren saw that Mikasa was doing okay for the moment, he snuck a quick glance into the tunnel to check up on Levi. He was pulling himself onto his knees now, his hand pressing on the side Eren had kicked him on. God, Eren really hoped he hadn’t kicked Levi too hard. Levi’s head was still hanging down and he could see his back moving with his deep breaths, which didn’t seem to be too painful for him. That at least meant Eren hadn’t broken anything. Eren was thankful at least that Levi was out of harm’s way for now, so that he wouldn’t be injured beyond normal repair on his first mission.

Deciding that Levi would be okay, Eren turned his attention back to the Corrupt just in time to see it swiping its tail forward to knock Mikasa off her feet. Eren quickly outstretched his hands, feeling the natural crackle of his powers travel through them before he drew a circle in the air and charged forward. There was a zap as Eren quickly moved forward to jump in between Mikasa and the Corrupt, summoning forth his force field to effectively block Mikasa from the attack and pushed it back, sending the tail whipping around to smack the Corrupt on the other side.

Thinking it was another enemy, the Corrupt quickly turned its head to check and Mikasa, as if on cue, focused all of her power into her right hand, calling forth one giant gauntlet. Eren moved back as fast as he could so that Mikasa had all the room she needed before the Corrupt looked back. As it turned its head, Mikasa threw her fist upward, the knuckles of the glove connecting with its jaw with a loud crack that sent the Corrupt flying backwards.

Eren saw Mikasa shifting her powers back to both of her hands before she drew them back up, ready to fight again. “Hold him back for me.” Mikasa kept her eyes on the Corrupt that was struggling to get on its feet while she ordered Eren.

“Got it!” Eren answered quickly, letting the power rush through his arms, this time just shoving his arms forward to open up a portal which he jumped through. Since the distance between where he was and where he wanted to be was short, he only felt the burn of the travel for a few seconds before he popped out of it, behind the Corrupt that was still stumbling. Eren moved quickly, getting closer to it until he got right behind it, and laced his arms under the Corrupts.

He heard the Corrupt try to open its mouth to roar, but when it was suddenly yanked up by Eren and bent backwards over him, all it could let out was a gurgling sound. Eren turned his head so that only his ear was pressed up between the Corrupts shoulder blades, it was only there and on Eren’s fingers that he could feel the chilling cold of the monsters skin. But that was expected, dead things should feel cool to the touch.

The Corrupt began to trash around, and Eren tightened his grip, grabbing tighter onto the Corrupts shoulders to keep it from squirming away. Eren could feel his feet slipping but he knew he couldn’t just let go. He pulled the Corrupt back with a lot of effort, spreading his legs a bit more and bending his knees to get a better stance to hold on it so that Mikasa could get one big blow in.

“You better be hurrying up!” Eren struggled to keep his grip on the Corrupt, bending his back more to try and actually lift the Corrupt off the ground, but he was nowhere near strong enough to do that. Not anymore.

“Well, you better let go in time then.” Mikasa scoffed and Eren couldn’t help the short laugh that escaped him. “Just don’t move it.” Eren could hear Mikasa running forward now, hearing the soles of her boots getting closer to him and the Corrupt. He could hear the whir of her gauntlets gaining strength and when the sound went up in pitch and then pulled back, Eren let go quickly. He dropped to the ground, his knees still bent so he could get up quickly as soon as the Corrupt was out of his way.

There was the ugly crunching sound that always came when Mikasa hit a Corrupt hard enough to shatter its power source. The Corrupt went flying once more over Eren’s head and he heard it smack a few times against the ground before it finally rolled to a stop farther down the hall. Eren dropped all the way down to the ground, rolling over so he could look at the now immobile Corrupt. It made no attempt to move and upon closer inspection he could see it beginning to fade away.

Eren let out a heavy sigh of relief, knowing he could finally go back to Levi and help repair whatever he had damaged. Eren pressed his hands into the ground, to push himself up when he saw Mikasa’s hand come up on his left. He looked up to her now, seeing her black hair fall into her eyes, which she fixed with her free hand. Eren knew he could get up without her help just fine, but he took her hand anyways, letting her pull him up.

“Thanks.” Eren smiled faintly at Mikasa as she brought her hand forward to lightly brush at Eren’s shoulder which must have gotten some sort of dirt on it. She hummed and looked him in the eye with a hard to read expression to most, but Eren could easily tell she was somewhat pleased. Whether it was in Eren’s performance or her own, he wasn’t sure.

“So, who’s the new guy?” Mikasa spoke quietly, grabbing onto Eren’s jacket and tugging it a bit, to get it to straighten out, which is what Mikasa always did whenever they had finished up a battle. Eren hated it at first, but when he learned it was Mikasa’s way of reassuring herself that Eren was okay and still in one piece, he learned to put up with it and later, appreciate it a little.

Eren remembered then that he had last seen Levi hunched over trying to get up onto his feet and that the minute Mikasa learned that it was him, she wasn’t going to listen to Eren until after she had dealt with Levi. So Eren to try and get to him first, forced himself to gasp, which caused Mikasa to let go of him quickly as Eren bolted down the hallway to get to Levi first. “Eren?! What’s wrong?!” He heard Mikasa call after him, but he focused on getting to Levi and when he reached the tunnel he noticed immediately that Levi wasn’t exactly where he had left him.

Eren could hear Mikasa running to catch up with him as he looked farther down the tunnel and sure enough, there was Levi, walking with his right hand on the tunnel to try and get out. “Hey!” Eren shouted, running down to try and catch up with Levi. There was no way Levi would be able to find his way out by himself and would probably end up only getting hurt more if he tried to get away. Levi looked over his shoulder at Eren and when he saw him, he seemed to try and speed up, taking his hand off the wall and moving quicker.

Oh, hell no. Eren thought to himself as he ran faster, knowing he could catch up to Levi easily. “Levi, wait! You’re hurt!” Eren tried to reason, but he could see him shake his head and continue anyway. Eren knew that the only way Levi would even stop for him was if he could show Levi he could help, so that’s what Eren settled on doing. He caught up to Levi and managed to stop himself in time to catch Levi’s wrist once more.

Levi tried to jerk his arm away, shooting a glare back at Eren with venomous eyes. “Let go of me!” He yelled, trying to yank his hand free once more.

“I will once you let me help you!” Eren pulled Levi’s arm until he could finally reach his side. Levi kept trying to break free of Eren’s grip but stopped immediately when Eren slipped his hand under Levi’s shirt and pressed it to his ribs. Eren focused his energy into his hand, feeling the chill of magic travel down his arm, through his fingertips and then into Levi’s skin.

“What the hell are you doin-!” Levi exclaimed, but was cut off by a powerful shiver that ran through his body. Eren knew it must have felt weird to be healed with magic, but he needed to do it.

“You don’t have a uniform that magic can travel through, I’m healing your wounds.” Eren replied quietly, trying not to move his hand too much since he really didn’t want to freak Levi out. He had no idea where else Levi had been hurt, so he hoped this was his only injury.

“J-Jesus fuck…” Levi clattered out, his right hand hovering over where Eren’s was on his side. “You’re fucking freezing. You feel just like those m-monsters.” Eren huffed at that, he wasn’t entirely wrong. The Corrupt healed themselves with very similar magic, so he guessed Levi had touched one of them before Eren had reached him.

“Similar magic.” Eren clarified, finally pulling his hand away slowly when his magic faded away back into his arm. “How does that feel?” He let go of Levi entirely, taking a step back even to give Levi some space as he examined himself. He pressed his own hand over where Eren had kicked him, pushing it lightly to test if it hurt him or not. Levi didn’t respond immediately, only furrowed his brow and before he looked up to Eren. He didn’t seem entirely pissed off which was great, but he didn’t look happy either.

“It feels like you just shoved my side into the ice age.” Levi finally spoke, tugging his shirt down farther than it was meant to go, as if he was suddenly conscious of his skin and Eren couldn’t blame him. He had gone a little far, Eren should have tried to reason with Levi more. “Can all of you people do that?” The question sounded jagged, the word people having a certain bite to it as if trying to call Eren something different than human.

“No, no.” Eren answered immediately, shaking his head with a half-hearted smile. “Only Shields can do that, but you don’t know what that is, do you?” When all Levi did in response was raise an eyebrow, Eren thought of how to word in a manner that would get through to Levi the first time. “Well, first off let me start with what you are now. See that mark on your hand?” Eren pointed his finger to Levi’s hand and when his gazed followed him, Eren continued. “That makes you a Weapon, more specifically a Dagger. A Dagger is like the rouge or the stealth of a team. A team is a group of Weapons that fight against the Corrupt together.”

“Teams can also have Shields in them, who aren’t exactly Weapons since they don’t fight, but they protect the team and then healing them if they got hurt.” Eren held out his right hand to Levi, to show him his own mark on his hand. Eren’s mark was a simple shield that had an odd scar running diagonally through it. On each side outside of the shield there was a different symbol, the newest one being on the bottom, which looked exactly like Levi’s mark. Eren pointed to this. “This here means that you are now under my protection, you became a member of my team when you got that mark on your hand because we were close by.”

Levi stepped forward slowly, looking to Eren’s hand and seeming to focus on the piece of it that looked like his own. After a moment of still silence, Levi reached out his hand to gently grab onto Eren’s fingers, holding his hand slightly so he could pull it closer to get a better look. Eren did his best not to jerk his hand away, it was weird for Levi to handle him in such a fragile manner, but if Levi was trying to get his head wrapped around everything, Eren wasn’t going to complain.

Levi finally brought his other hand forward, tapping the other three marks surrounding Eren’s. “Then these are the rest of them?” Levi asked, looking Eren directly in the eye, the cool grey in them almost seeming to fill will curiosity.

“Yes, that’s the rest of my team.” Eren felt a nervous smile tug at his lips, but he tried to look serious for now. He followed Levi’s pattern and pointed them out. “This glove here is Mikasa, my sister. She’s a Brawler. You saw her a few moments ago, she was the one who-.”

“Eren.” Mikasa’s voice jolted Eren back to the realization that he wasn’t in the clear quiet yet. Eren quickly pulled his hand from Levi’s grasp, looking up to Mikasa to see her eyes basically boring holes through Levi’s skull. Of course she would be pissed off to see him inside the Magic Space. “Why the hell is he here?”

“Mikasa, step back.” Eren asserted, stepping in front of Levi to get between him and Mikasa. He couldn’t let this situation get out of hand, not with Levi still trying to understand everything. “He has no idea what’s going on, don’t make this worse.”

“Make it worse?” Mikasa snorted, her gaze never leaving Levi’s face. “The fact that he’s here is worse enough! How the hell did he get in?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying to find out myself so back off.” At Eren’s retort, Mikasa took a step forward that forced Eren to take a step back, pushing Levi with him. “Mikasa, stop!” Eren held out his hand, ready to push Mikasa away if he needed to.

“Hey!” A voice shouted from behind Eren and when he heard the faintest hint of an accent in it, he knew that he could easily get this situation to boil down if he got the voice on his side. Eren turned back to see Jean and a man in a white cloak running towards them, to get to them quicker. Under the white cloak Eren could see blond hair and vibrant blue eyes and knew Armin must have decided to put his hood up. “What’s going on here?” Jean stopped a few steps away from Eren and Levi, looking between them and Mikasa.

“Eren recruited some pipsqueak who shouldn’t be here.” Mikasa’s voice snapped through first and immediately Eren had to hold out his arm to keep Levi from going towards her.

“I didn’t recruit him!” Eren argued, facing Mikasa. “I found him right after his mark was put on mine, I didn’t know it was him until I saw him!”

“Woah, hey!” Jean laughed slightly, coming up past Eren to step between him and Mikasa. “Last thing we need is you two fighting.” Jean kept that dumb looking smirk on his face as he addressed them both, and it was only then that Mikasa finally seemed to drop her posture, straightening her back and letting her hands fall to her side. “Now would either of you guys tell me who he is?”

Eren glanced back to Levi to see him still shooting the same glare back at Mikasa, neither of them letting up. “This is Levi, he’s one of my managers at the tea shop.” Eren gestured to Levi while addressing Jean. “That’s why Mikasa’s pissed,” At the sound of her name, Mikasa finally looked to Eren who furrowed his brows at her. “She’s not happy that I seem to keep drawing people into the Magic Space. Even if not directly.”

Mikasa held her venomous glare for a while, refusing to take her eyes off Eren until finally she exhaled loudly and hung her head. She brought a hand to her face rubbing her temples before pushing her bangs up and away. Seeing her do this let Eren release a slow breath he didn’t realize he had been holding, feeling relief fill him for the moment.

“So you really didn’t recruit him?” Jean looked to Eren and he nodded. To try and prove this, Eren grabbed onto his left sleeve and rolled it up at least to expose his forearm and the three marks that were still printed onto the underside of it. Eren had gained them from other Weapons who had given up on the Magic Space, and he could use them now to recruit others.

“See? I still have all of them, even the Dagger.” Eren pointed to that mark on his arm and when he heard Jean hum, he at least knew he believed him. “Levi got the mark before I even got to him. I was only able to find him because his mark showed up on mine.” Eren rolled down the sleeve, straightening it out along his wrist even though he realized last moment Levi had been trying to get a look at it. He could show it to him another time.

“So he’s a team member now?” Jean tilted his head towards Levi which seemed to cause him to stiffen. Eren looked back to him, noticing that he was shooting his glare towards Jean now.

“Yes, he is.” Eren replied simply and Jean brought a hand up to scratch at short part of his undercut then run his fingers across it, like he was deep in thought. “I mean, unless you want to toss him to the wolves without any idea of how to fight. He tried to fight early and ended hitting a wall he jumped so high.”

Jean scoffed at that and Eren felt something hit his back with a smack. It took him only a second to realize it had been Levi. “Ow!” Eren yelped, looking back at Levi to see him shake his head once. Eren rubbed where he had hit, trying to force the pain away.

“No, no.” Jean chuckled, holding up a hand half-defensively. “If he’s already been assigned, no point in kicking him out now.” Jean approached Levi, Eren deciding to step out of his way since Mikasa wasn’t going to make any reckless moves now. Jean held out his hand to Levi who looked at it awkwardly. “I’m Jean, the leader of this slapped together team. But don’t worry, with me and the only Shield still alive, you’ll be in good hands.”

Levi looked up to Jean at his comment, then after a moment, he finally let out a huff and shook Jean’s hand. Eren saw Jean’s face scrunch up a bit and guessed that Levi had given one of his more firm hand shakes. The kind where Levi was unaware that he was actually crushing the other person’s fingers. “Levi. You don’t look like you’d be that great of a leader.” Levi responded flatly and immediately Jean seemed to take offence.

“Swords are automatically team leaders since they’re usually in every team.” Eren jumped in, trying to avoid another argument. “Jean’s the Sword, thus the leader. Though most of the decisions in the team are made by the whole group, he has the final word when we can’t decide.” While Eren spoke, Jean managed to pry his hand from Levi’s grip, bringing it behind his back to hide that he was rubbing them with his other hand.

Levi’s attention was back on Eren which was a good thing at this point. Eren had grown used to Levi’s blank expression, to most he would seem upset or irritated all the time, but Eren knew it was just Levi’s resting face. “So you guys are equals?” Levi shifted his weight to his left leg, turning to face Eren more.

“Mostly, yes.” Eren nodded, looking between Levi and the rest of the team. “We treat each other like it at least. Most other teams prefer to have one person in higher power, but we work best making our own choices.” Levi hummed to Eren’s response, glancing to the ground.

“There are other teams?” Levi furrowed his brow, bringing his hand up to the side of his face.

“Well,” Armin’s voice finally spoke up for the first time, and Eren realized he had almost forgotten he was there. As it turned out, Levi had as well and quickly looked over to where Armin stood, which caused him to recoil almost before he continued. “There might be. A few years ago there used to be at least ten teams in the area, but now there might only be us.”

“What happened to the rest of them?” Levi frowned at the statement, crossing his arms.

“Oh, you know: murdered, disbanded, either that or just well hidden.” Mikasa grumbled, catching Levi’s glare once more. “Most Weapons die before they even graduate, we’re lucky enough to have Armin who can bring us back if that happens.”

“You can die in here?” Levi’s question was directed towards Eren, who he looked to with a somewhat shocked expression.

But when Eren opened his mouth to speak, he was cut off by Armin who came up to stand where Levi could see him easily. “Unfortunately, yes. It doesn’t happen often because most of us are experienced, and because we have Eren to protect us. But sometimes Eren can’t be there, or we get caught off guard and we get hurt badly, or even killed, like Mikasa said. Fighting the Corrupt is dangerous business. They show no mercy to humans, or anything that intervenes with them. Being a Weapon is no easy life.”

Eren had been hoping to ease that news onto Levi, but it seems that everyone else had decided on telling him from the start. It was true though. Eren has seen his fair share of deaths, even been killed a few times himself according to Jean’s word, but that was the price to pay for fighting in the Magic Space. It wasn’t easy, not in the slightest.

“And you guys just keeping doing it?” Levi began, a deep crease between his brows growing more prominent as he thought. “Why the hell are you guys doing this if you can be killed? That’s just stupid.”

“Because we chose to.” Jean answered firmly and Levi stilled. “We were all given our marks years ago, we chose to fight against the Corrupt because we wanted to do good or because we were forced to, but now we fight to live. When you chose to become a Weapon, you are agreeing to their rules, you fight or you die. If you don’t fight, they will either track you down, or you will rot away just like many others have.”

Jean reached forward, grabbing onto Levi’s left wrist until he was holding up Levi’s hand in front of his face. Levi tried to twist from Jean’s grasp but he spoke before he could. “This mark here isn’t permanent. You’re not a Weapon until you’ve killed a Corrupt, but the minute you do, you are signed into this world until you graduate or you die. Your time to make your choice is now. You can say no, and in return we will take this mark from and all of your memories of this place. If you say no you’ll get to keep living a normal, without ever having to live in fear of the Corrupt.”

“But, you can say yes. You can agree to our rules, you can chose to fight. Our burden will become yours as well. People aren’t just given marks for the hell of it, you were chosen for a reason, because there was a moment just now where you decided you couldn’t die here. You chose to keep living, and now you must make the second choice. Do you keep fighting for what you chose to live for, or do you give up and go back to the life you once knew?”

Levi had stopped trying to pry his hand out of Jean’s grasp, listening to what he said now with a compliant expression. When Jean finally released Levi hand, he didn’t drop it immediately. Levi kept his eyes on his mark, staring at it for a long time in which Eren felt his stomach starting to knot with anticipation. He wasn’t sure what Levi would do now, the choice was entirely his. Eren had no say in the matter.

Eren became wrapped up in his own anxiety, worried about the implications of Levi’s answer. If Levi chose to give away his mark, Eren would have to pretend that none of this had ever happened, that he hadn’t finally made a better impression on Levi than he would have ever made in his life. Eren and Levi would go back to square one all over again. But if Levi chose to stay, Eren would have to bring him in close. Get to know him better whether Levi wanted him to or not, he would have to train Levi how to fight, all the rules of Magic Space, what it meant to be a Weapon and all else that came with the title. Eren had his work cut out for him either way.

Eren didn’t come back out of his thoughts until he saw Levi touch the ring on his finger, spinning it. Eren knew what that ring meant to Levi, what it represented in Levi’s mind and he knew that Levi was thinking about something Eren could never comprehend. Levi didn’t take long after that to look up to Jean, his eyes filled with something Eren hadn’t seen in them in ages. Purpose.

“I want to fight.” Levi answered, gripping tightly onto his own hand. “To get my answers, I'll become a Weapon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story might end up being really long, I apologize in advance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the super late update everyone, I had a whole lot of stuff to do and didn't have time to write this until now. Unfortunately, my updates may remain sporadic for a while now, but I'll explain that in the end notes.
> 
> For now, I hope you like the 3rd chapter of Our Last Hope!
> 
> Levi's POV.

Levi couldn’t tell what was more ridiculous, the fact that he had just agreed to become whatever the hell the rest of these kids were, or the way all of them were dressed. They all looked like they belonged in some fantasy movie or a renaissance festival, dressed in varying styles of armor or giant cloaks, the most prominent of these styles being the man who introduced himself as Jean.

Jean was relatively tall man, with a long face and sharp features. His eyes appeared to be brown, but in the dim lighting of the tunnel it was hard to tell. He seemed to be well built but it was hidden under his muted green shirt and metal chest plate. The cuffs of his shirt were fitted to his wrist and covered with a metal brace that was attached to a pair of fingerless leather gloves. A dark brown belt sat on his hips and held on to a sword and its sheath which must have been his weapon. Brown boots with metal covers that reach up high enough to cover the front of his knees seemed to complete his knight-like outfit with dark pants.

Mikasa, who still hadn’t stopped glaring at Levi, was obviously of Asian descent, with thin black hair that ended just below her chin and cool grey eyes that reflected well in the light. She was dressed in less armor than Jean, but hers seemed to suit a different purpose. She wore a thick leather bodice that reached to below her neck where it was covered with a red bunch of fabric. Her bodice had no sleeves but she wore strong metal gloves that reached up to her elbows and ended at her wrists, making the mark of a gauntlet on her right hand visible to Levi. There was a thick black belt of her hip that hung down to the left of her body, on top of form fitting black pants and a pair of boots that Levi suspected to be steel-toed with all the noise they made.

The boy with the blond hair and bright blue eyes whose name Levi didn’t know, was obviously the man he had seen running into the portal before he found it. Instead of being dressed in the clothes Levi saw earlier, he was completely covered in a long white cloak with giant sleeves that hung just above his dark leather gloves and a hood that he still had up. On the front of the cloak there was a light blue pendant, the gem of it appeared to be glimmering in the light. Levi couldn’t see anything that underneath the cloak other than a pair of short boots that Levi barely saw.

And then there was Eren. Eren, who even here in this place, was dressed in ill-fitting clothing. He wore a long jacket that hung off him loosely, only staying on because it was held closed in the front with small chains. The tails of his jacket would have run down longer if Eren hadn’t tied them off to his left side to get them out of the way. The sleeves of his jacket were long as well, with cuffs with white lines around the seams being the only color other than black on Eren. He wore baggy pants that only became more form fitting where his boots began, which were laced together tightly, the only thing on him that seemed to fit okay. Levi could see some of the shirt Eren had on under the jacket peeking out from under the coat, but that seemed to be black as well.

There was also the way he looked. Ever since Levi had first meet Eren, he always felt that Eren looked wrong. Levi still hadn’t figure out why he felt that way, but something about the kid seemed off. Like he didn’t suit his own body, like he didn’t fill himself correctly. It was such a strange feeling to Levi that he never brought it up, or ever planned to. Maybe all of this stuff was what made Eren look different. He seemed to know a lot about this Magic Space and the Corrupt, so maybe this knowledge was what set him apart from everyone else Levi knew. But as Levi looked to the rest of the people around him, he didn’t get the same feeling he got from Eren. Maybe He had been doing this longer than them?

Levi hadn’t realized he had gotten sucked into his own thoughts until he heard Jean’s voice. “Then it looks like we’ll have to figure out how to train you ourselves.” He grunted, bring his hand up to scratch at the dark part of his two-toned undercut. The top of it was an obviously bleached color that seemed to be fading to a darker blond just by the roots. “Most Weapons are picked by the Court and then trained for a few months before being assigned to a team, but you’re brand new, aren’t you?”

Levi immediately picked up on the word Court, hearing the way Jean stressed the word and he knew it must have meant more to them than it did to Levi. He found it hard to come by words to form a coherent response to Jean’s question, and with everyone’s eyes on him he felt like he didn’t have enough time. So he simply nodded.

“So you don’t even know how to summon your weapon?” Jean sighed as he slouched, crossing his arms while looking over to Eren. “But you said he tried to use it, right?”

“He used his weapon too,” Eren corrected, giving his full attention to Jean as he turned to face him. “I saw him with them before I grabbed him. He also managed to use a part of his new power, but used too much and hit the ceiling.” It felt stupid that Eren was telling them everything Levi could explain himself, but Eren always spoke before Levi did, or it could be that the other just found it easier to ask Eren than to even address Levi. Figures.

“You did that without any help?” Jean’s eyes widened as he glanced to Levi. “How the hell did you manage to do that without any training?” Levi saw Mikasa shift around, bringing a hand up to push her bangs out of her face as she exhaled heavily. She obviously had some sort of issue with Levi, but he knew he had never met her before this. What the hell was her problem?

Levi looked back to Jean who had raised his eyebrows and Levi tried to think back on when he had called those daggers forward. He had just remembered jumping away from the Corrupt, and then flicking his wrists forward to summon them. It had just happened so easily, he had just followed what the power inside of him told him to do. “It just happened, I guess.” Levi finally answered, looking down to the palms of his hands, trying to remember more.

“Was there anything weird you felt when you summoned them?” Eren inquired, watching as Levi flicked his wrists forward with a concentrated expression, but nothing happened, causing Levi to scowl. “Uh, they probably won’t work now.” Levi saw Eren step forward, holding up a hand. “You must have used up a lot of energy earlier; you’re too tired to do anything now.”

That made sense, but it still irritated Levi. It had come so naturally, why couldn’t he use them now? He tried to do it again, but like before, nothing. “That’s fucking useless.” Levi grunted, dropping his hands finally, giving up on trying it anymore.

“You’ll get stronger as you train and kill the Corrupt, everyone starts out like that.” Eren tried to console Levi, and he felt like Eren was trying to baby him. Fucking ridiculous. He shot a glare towards Eren, but instead of seeing him react to it, he found Eren looking up in thought. “Well, not everyone can summon weapons on the first try, but you get the idea. Eventually you’ll be able to use them effortlessly.”

“Plus,” The blond man piped, Levi noticing that he had now pulled down his hood. “Trying to over use your powers while they’re still new will only make you weaker.” The man tried to give Levi a reassuring smile, but Levi could see that he was slightly uncomfortable or nervous. Either would make sense. “It just takes a bit of practice.” Just then, the man seemed to remember something and reached into his cloak, rustling around for a bit before pulling out a silver bracelet and extending his arm out towards Eren.

“I found this by the entrance, I meant to give it back right away.” The man explained as Eren took the bracelet and brought it up to his eyes to inspect it. He turned it around and Levi realized there was something engraved into it, and as Eren read it, his eyes widened.

“Oh shit!” Eren exclaimed, reaching down to push aside the tails of his jacket to reveal a silver chain that wrapped around his hip and on that chain were multiple silver bracelets, just like the one Eren had in his hand. “How the hell did it fall off?” Eren pulled up the chain, and inspected the one the man had handed him before he moved around the bracelets, making space between two of them. He pressed the bracelet to the chain and the chain broke. Well, more like it opened for a short moment, long enough for Eren to get the bracelet in place before it closed around it again, accompanied by the sound of metal clicking together.

“I thought you said only you could pull those things off?” Jean leaned to watch Eren tug at the bracelet, making sure it was firmly in place before he pushed his jacket over it again.

“I am, I must have knocked it off or something. Thanks Armin, you’re a life saver.” Eren looked to the man that Levi guessed now was named Armin, flashing him a sincere smile to which Armin nodded his head.

“I knew you were okay since you greeted me, so I guessed I didn’t need to use it to find you.” Armin answered, running his fingers through hair before holding his hands loosely.

“Thank you, really.” Eren brought his hand down to that chain and seemed to hold it protectively. Whatever the hell those things were, they obviously were important to Eren, and from the sound of it, they could be used by the rest of them.

“What are those?” Levi asked, curiosity getting the better of his as he pointed to where Eren’s hand rested. Eren looked at his with a raised eyebrow before following Levi’s hand with his eyes.

“Oh yeah, uh…” Eren looked around for a moment, biting his lower lip, while his gaze seemed to stop in Mikasa’s direction. All she did in reply was shrug as she thinned her lips. “It’s kind of hard to explain, but they’re kind of like my backup. If something happens to me, I can send one of them to my team and they can use it to find me.” Eren shrugged, trying once more to hide the bracelets. “I haven’t had to use them yet, but they’re there if I need them.”

“That’s simple, why would that be hard to explain?” Levi furrowed his brow, it made sense to him. If they were there for Eren’s use, what more was there to them?

“Uh, it’s hard to explain what they are exactly.” Eren murmured, shifting his gaze around and playing with the fold of his sleeve. “Like, what it’s made of.”

“What’s it made of?” Levi pressed, and Eren hummed, tilting his head as he gritted his teeth.

“Magic.” Mikasa cut in, finally speaking up. “Everything here is magic unless we say otherwise. It’s all just magic.” She raised her hands waving them around as she spoke. “Magic Space, magic powers, magical shit. Everything is just magic.”

Levi was getting sick of Mikasa’s sour attitude and was about to act on it when he heard Jean scoff. “Fair point.” Jean gave a nonchalant shrug with a smirk on his face. “It’s all magic basically, except for us. We’re the only real thing in this world at this point.”

After Jean said that, Levi heard not one, but two voices make a sound of disagreement which cause Jean to look between Eren and Armin who both had more to say on the matter. Armin was the one who spoke up first. “Well, actually, this place is real. Even the Corrupt are real, there has been reports of the Corrupt leaking out of the Magic Space, and of course, the whole thing where the Corrupt came before the Magic Space so they obviously existed in the real world before they did here.”

“Plus, we can interact with everything in here, so that has to mean something.” Eren added, pointing his finger at Jean matter-of-factly. “Or, this is actually all a dream and when we step through that portal we’re actually just falling asleep and then-.”

“Oh hell no,” Jean interjected, holding out both of his hands. “We’re not throwing around Magic Space theories around the new guy. You guys spooked me enough with that shit; don’t make him go through that.” Levi hadn’t actually been put off by anything they had said so far, other than the fact that Jean had called them theories. Was there no actual proof of the Magic Space?

“We’re running out of time anyways.” Mikasa grumbled, looking back down the tunnel. “Walk and talk.” Mikasa turned on her heel, walking at a fast pace the way they came. Levi saw Eren pull back his sleeve a bit to look at a watch, his expression tensing before he let out a huff of air.

“We can explain more outside, let’s get out of here first.” Eren nodded his head toward Mikasa’s direction and Levi got that he wanted him to follow after Eren, and at this point, what choice did Levi have? Eren and his team seemed to be the only people willing to work with him right now, to help him get his answers, so Levi followed.

Jean had taken the leading, walking in front of Armin, Eren, and Levi. He looked over his shoulder occasionally, making sure that everyone was still behind him until finally he made eye contact with Levi. “How far away do you live, Levi?”

It was an honest question, but Levi didn’t want to answer it. The last thing he needed was a bunch of strangers knowing where he lived, but he guessed they’d find out eventually. They had said they would have to work together more, so Levi forced himself to reply. “A couple blocks away.”

“You need a ride home?” Jean asked as they came out of the tunnel and back into the main one. Jean looked both ways before spotting Mikasa heading towards the entrance and following her.

“No, I can walk just fine.” Levi replied quickly. “I walk it all the time.” Levi heard Armin laugh softly, but when he looked to him, Armin cleared him throat awkwardly and looked down at his feet. That’s when Eren let out a short laugh.

“Ah, it rhymed.” He explained, clearing his own throat. Oh boy, Levi thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. He thought he’d get the chance to finally walk in silence, but Eren had another idea, piping in with another question. “Would it be fine if I walked you home?”

Levi glanced at Eren to see him looking at Levi intently. “I don’t need you babying me.” Levi asserted, looking forward once more, only catching Eren shaking his head out of his peripheral vision.

“It’d give me more time to explain things to you, and then set up some time to explain the rest of it.” Eren reassured, speaking in a quieter tone now. “It’d only be me, I’ll answer any questions you have.” Levi did find the offer tempting. If it was only Eren, he felt like that would be a little easier, since he actually knew Eren better than anyone else on the team, but he still wasn’t sure about letting someone walk him home. The idea seemed off to Levi, but he did have questions, so he accepted.

They reached the entrance without any problems and found Mikasa waiting by the swirling portal for the rest of the team. She was the first to exit, then Jean, then Armin. Levi had never walked through one by choice and found himself hesitating before it. “It’ll be fine, just walk right through.” Eren encouraged, gesturing for Levi to move. “I’ll be right behind you.”

That did nothing to help Levi, but finally he relented. He stepped forward, holding his hand out in front of him so that he could focus on that part passing through first. Levi heard that whooshing sound that he heard when he had been pulled through the first time and then he went through the portal completely. For a moment he couldn’t see or feel anything but then he was hit with warm, humid air. He opened his eyes to find himself once more in the alleyway, and with the others, but their clothing had changed. They weren’t in those ridiculous outfits anymore, but rather in normal clothing.

He didn’t really get a chance to make note of what everyone was wearing, but he got one good look at Jean and his entire outfit screamed hipster. Levi heard the whoosh of the portal again, turning back to see Eren come through and then, just like that, the portal disappeared. The alleyway became dark, and Levi had to squint to be able to see. Ahead, he noticed Mikasa peek her head out of the alley, looking both ways before she looked back to them and nodded.

“Coast’s clear, looks like that did take longer than we thought.” Mikasa sighed, coming into the streetlight, followed by Armin and Jean. Jean pulled out his phone, turning it on as he whistled lowly.

“Damn, I’ve got to get home. I have classes first thing in the morning.” Jean turned back to Eren who was coming out of alley with Levi. “Let’s hurry up, Eren.” He jerked his thumb in the direction Levi had original came from, which must have been where his car was.

“Go on ahead.” Eren waved his hand. “I’m gonna walk with Levi, you head home. I’ll be there soon.” After watching Jean check his own phone for the time, Levi did the same thing and when he turned it on he was shocked to see it was 11. He had left the tea shop sometime before 9, how long had they been in there exactly?

“You sure you don’t need a ride?” Jean quirked an eyebrow at Levi, pulling his gaze away from his phone as he declined once more. “Alright, suit yourself.” Jean said a quick goodbye to everyone before he headed down the sidewalk to where his car was parked. Armin went across the street after saying goodbye to get to his own way home, leaving Levi with Eren and Mikasa.

Mikasa let out a heavy huff of air before she turned back to face Levi and Eren. She seemed to look at Levi with a tense expression before she shifted her gaze to Eren and put a hand in his hair, ruffling it quickly. Eren made a noise of protest but Mikasa’s hand was out of his hair before he could move to swat it away. “Don’t stay out too late, numbskull.” Mikasa walked off in the direction Jean had gone, and Eren fixed his hair, shouting after her.

“Well, don’t get lost on your way home!” He cupped his hands over his mouth, and Mikasa turned around, flipping Eren off with both hands. Levi saw Eren bring up the back of us hand, muttering something he didn’t quiet catch. After Mikasa turned around gain, Eren let out a short scoff, looking back to Levi. “Sorry, she’s just a little protective of me.” He waved his hand again. “C’mon, let’s get you home.”

“Little protective is an understatement.” Levi snorted, finally walking the rest of the way home. He realized maybe if he had finished cleaning up at the tea shop, he would have missed Armin entirely and never would have learned any of this. Or maybe if he had just kept walking, he could keep living the life he knew before, but if getting that mark and learning all of that stuff meant he would be any closer to remembering more of his past, he’d go through with it. “What the hell is her problem?”

Eren followed beside Levi, managing to keep up with Levi’s quick strides. “Uh,” Eren drawled, bringing a hand up to his face, rubbing the side of it. “She’s probably pissed because of the extra effort we have to put into training you now. There’s kind of a ranking system among the teams, and with you as a new member, you brought us down by a lot. We were getting closer to graduating, so she’s probably angry cause now it’ll take longer.” Eren nodded to himself, letting his hand drop down as he looked to Levi. “Yeah, she’s been doing it for a while, and the Magic Space does take up a lot of time. Every one of us wants out at this point.”

“How long have you been Weapons?” Levi inquired, remembering he wanted to ask Eren that since he seemed to know a great deal about the Magic Space.

Eren hummed, before let out an awkward laugh. “Well, Jean and Mikasa were in the same year, they’ve been doing this for 4-5 years I think. Armin doesn’t remember when he started, but he’s at least like 6 years. I’ve been doing this since I was 9, so about 10 years now.”

“Jesus, fuck!” Levi exclaimed, looking to Eren with raised brows. If Eren had been doing this for 10 years, no wonder he knew so much. At that point, if you didn’t know all about it, you’d have to be an idiot. “Since you were 9?”

Eren laughed again, but a bit more sincere this time. “Crazy right? They start Shield’s young, since it takes a lot of training to become one. They usually don’t let people do it for over 10 years, but sometimes dates get messed up, or the person becomes too important.” Eren explained, a faint smile on his lips as he tried to keep the mood light.

“So I just agreed to do something that’s going to take up years of my life?” Levi let that dawn on him and now he wished he had stay longer at the tea shop, but immediately Eren interrupted his thought.

“Oh, no no no no. If you’re with me, you should be out of this by next year.” Eren held up his hands. “There’s this test I have to go through next spring and if I pass, everyone on my team will graduate. Don’t worry, you won’t be doing this for as long as we have, but that still means you have a lot of ground to cover.”

“If you pass?” Levi repeated. “What happens if you don’t?”

Eren thinned his lips and hummed, rubbing his right hand over the plethora of leather bracelets he had on his arms, shifting them around. “Well, I think you guys would still be able to graduate. I dunno.” He muttered, shaking his head. “It’s up in the air at this point, I’m still trying to get more info.”

“So, everyone’s fate is determined by whether you fail or not?” Levi looked forward, reading which street they were crossing and noted that he only had a couple more blocks to go.

Eren made a faint sound, before shrugging. “It’s not entirely on me. I’m more likely to fail if I don’t have a good relationship with everyone in my team.” Eren paused, his face scrunching up as he thought. “It’s hard to explain what the test is. I don’t know all that much about it, and what I do know is only things that the test is not. It’s complicated.”

“Can’t you just talk to other people who’ve taken it?” Levi immediately thought of that. If there were other people like Eren and his team, then why did they seem to be avoiding them? It didn’t sounds like there was any room for team rivalry in such a serious setting, especially with the threat of being killed by the Corrupt.

Eren remained silent for a long time, until Levi looked back to see Eren frowning almost. “Because everyone who’s taken it has died.” He finally murmured, letting his gaze drop to the sidewalk.

Oh. Levi looked ahead once more, letting that sink in. The heavy silence returned once more and Levi was left to wonder why the hell he agreed in the first place. If Levi had known that his chances of getting out of this stupid thing were so slim, he never would have said yes in the first place.

Except, he would have. There was obviously something in this strange world of Eren’s that could possible help Levi get his memories back, or at least get a start on them. He remembered the voice telling him that if he wanted answers, he’d have to fight for them. If he wanted to finally find out who that person was who made his life worth living before he lost it all, he’d do anything. Anything at all.

“But, that’s only been for the past 10 years.” Eren spoke up quietly after a while. Levi looked to him, seeing that his expression had gone somber, but he was still trying to keep the mood light. “Something has been wrong with the Trial for that time and my old friends and I have been trying to figure out the problem. I’m getting closer.” Eren brought up his right hand, looking to the back of it, before he clenched it into a fist. “I just need more time.”

Levi noticed on the back of Eren’s hand that the mark was gone. The black inking of a shield with swirls on one half of it was gone entirely, but the scar remained. Levi looked down to his left hand and noticed his was missing as well. What the hell? He brought it up closer to his eye, but still he couldn’t see it.

Eren must have noticed him trying to spot his mark because he laughed. “Oh, our marks can’t be seen outside of the Magic Space. That way people who aren’t involved with it don’t ask us questions. They also only appear if we’re near a Magic Space, that’s how we find them most of the time.” Levi let his hand drop slowly, bringing the other one up to rub at his eyes. God, he had a lot of questions, but instead of just getting answers, he gained more and more questions. There was too much to this god damn Magic Space.

“Speaking of other people,” Eren cleared his throat, his voice reverting back to a more serious tone. “You can’t tell anyone of what happened. Not a peep, not a word. You can’t talk to anyone but us about the Magic Space. If you tell anyone, anything, even hint at something that they don’t know a thing about, the Court will come after you and the person you told. You’ll probably be punished, while the other person will be killed.”

“Killed?” Levi looked back to Eren, who shrugged again. “That’s fucking insane!”

“It is, but we have no choice. If ordinary people learned about the Corrupt and the Magic Space, bad things can happen.” Eren went back to messing with his bracelets. “It’s the Court’s business, not ours.”

“What the hell is this Court, exactly?” Levi was getting sick of old words with new meanings at this point, but he felt that whatever the Court was, it was a vital part of this entire system.

Eren sighed, looking up at the sky for a moment before finally looking to Levi. “The less you know about it, the better off you’d be.”

“Oh fuck no.” Levi stopped walking, turning to Eren entirely, causing Eren to skid to stop and stare at him with wide eyes. “You said you’d answer my questions, so answer me.”

“Levi, I’ve said too much about it already. Most Weapons don’t learn anything about the Court, the only people who are supposed to know about it are members of the Court.” Eren held up his hands again, shifting back to give Levi more space.

“So you’re a member then? You obviously know a lot, what the fuck is the Court?” Levi stepped forward, and immediately Eren took a huge step back, bringing his hands down and watching Levi intently.

“Look, Levi, I’ll tell you more about it when I know you’re not going to get hurt. If I tell you too much about them too early, they’ll come after you. And if they see you, they’re not going to be happy to see you at all. Just,” Eren paused, closing his eyes and furrowing his brows, trying to concentrate on something. “All you need to know, is basically they’re like the overseers of the Magic Space. They make the rules, we follow them. If we step out of line, they won’t hesitate to kill us. That’s all you need to know. That’s all that everyone outside of the Court knows.”

“So, they’re the people in charge then?” Levi clarified, watching Eren shrug before nodding slightly. “Are you one of them?”

Eren thinned his lips as he hummed. “No, I’m not one of the people in charge.” He finally muttered, stuffing his hand into his pockets.

“Then why do you know so much?” Levi could tell Eren was hiding something, and with how he was dancing around the subject, he believed Eren was definitely a member. But the more he pushed, the more of a wall Eren seemed to build around himself. Eren had promised him answers, and dammit he was going to get them.

“10 years of doing this shit, you learn a lot.” Eren continued walking, even going past Levi. Levi finally decided to follow, catching up to him easily, noticing now that Eren didn’t try and smile. “I’ve had lots of encounters with them too, that’s all I can say.”

“You’re obviously-.”

“That’s all I can say.” Eren repeated, his voice snapping and Levi knew he would get nothing else out of him. They walked the rest of the way to Levi’s apartment in heavy silence, a silence so thick it felt like it was weighing down on Levi’s shoulders. It felt hot and humid like the air around them and only grew heavier as it dragged on. Leave it to Levi to piss off or scare every person on Eren’s team, including him. How else would people act around Levi? Once they had reached his apartment, Levi wanted to just walk inside, getting away from Eren so he would finally calm down.

“Get stronger and work with us and I’ll tell you everything.” Levi heard Eren say as he walked up to the front door of the building. Levi turned around to see Eren watching him with a soft expression. He looked to Levi as if he was worried for his sake, a face Levi remembered getting from a lot of people when he first lost his memories. But for the first time, the expression didn’t sicken Levi. “Once I know they can’t hurt you, I’ll tell you whatever you want.”

Levi wasn’t sure why he felt relieved to hear that. Eren was willing to break rules to give Levi the answers he wanted, and something about the act meant a lot to him. He and Eren weren’t close in the slightest, they had spoken a few times before this, only knew each other because they had to work well together at work, and yet here he was, trying to do more for someone he barely knew. For someone he didn’t understand. He was still bitter about the fact that he wouldn’t answer him now, but if what Eren said was true, he wasn’t going to push it. In fear of being killed before he got his own answers.

Levi sighed, feeling like things were about to get harder because of this new world, but he nodded. “Okay.” He relented, seeing Eren relax as he let out a huff of air when he replied. “Fine, I’ll work with you. When are you guys meeting up next?”

“Well, we do missions every Tuesday and Thursday, but we meet up whenever we can to talk and plan more.” Eren replied, scuffing his shoe against the ground. “You have my number right?”

“Yeah, of course.” Levi nodded, remembering seeing his name in his contact list the last time he had checked it.

“Then I’ll text you sometime to set something up.” Eren smiled uncertainly. “Most of us have work or classes or training so we’ll have to figure out our schedules, but it’ll be fine. That’s not hard at all.”

“Right.” Levi drawled, pulling out his key to the apartment building and unlocking the door before he looked back to Eren one was last time. “Don’t get hurt on your way home, kid.”

“I’ll be fine.” Eren laughed faintly, waving his hand as he turned back the way they came. “I walk it all the time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this chapter, and I hope I can continuing updating this thing semi-frequently. I'll be leaving overseas in the next couple of days to help out my grandma for 9 weeks and my access to the internet and my free time with be reduced greatly. I'll still update as much as I can while I'm over there, but I don't think weekly updates will be possible for now, but I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Again, sorry for the late update, and if you want to talk to me at all or want to see my adventures while I'm over there my tumblr is highstakesforjoan.tumblr.com so don't be afraid to talk to me over there.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry for this super late update! I'll explain more down in the bottoms notes but for now here is Chapter 4 of Our Last Hope!
> 
> (This update is my Christmas present to you all, and guess what? It's 7k words long whoops)

Levi woke up when he felt something heavy jump onto his chest and forced the wind out of his lungs. That huff of air disturbed the cat that had crawled onto Levi, the cat let out a loud meow as she moved down to Levi’s stomach and then settled herself there after kneading at Levi’s gut for a few moments. Levi groaned as he cleared his eyes of sleep and opened them long enough to see that his cat, Stubborn Bastard, had waken up Levi just for the sake of cuddling. Typical cats. Stubborn Bastard had now turns around to face Levi and blink at him slowly, as if to ask him why the hell he wasn’t petting her right this instant. After Levi found enough strength in his arms, to bring them down from his eyes, he laid them on Stubborn Bastard’s back, petting her a few times as he tried to wake up more.

He couldn’t remember when he had fallen asleep exactly, only that the sun had been up when he did. After Eren had gone his separate way back home, Levi found himself thinking of more and more questions to ask when Eren was willing to answer them. But the more Levi thought and thought, the harder it was for him to fall asleep. Eventually he gave up trying to sleep around 3 am and just decide to stay up with Stubborn Bastard sleeping on his legs. Levi had stayed up until around 6 which was Stubborn Bastards breakfast time and so he feed her loud, only after that finding himself exhausted enough to close his eyes and then fall asleep on the sofa.

But he had been doing something else too. Something else had happened before he went to sleep but he couldn’t remember what it was exactly. As Levi continued to pet the cat laying on his stomach, he glanced over to the coffee table and spotted his phone facing upwards. Levi usually would have it facing downward so that the light of the phone wouldn’t disturb him while he slept, but obviously he had done something with it before he went to sleep. Levi slowly took one hand off Stubborn Bastard, reaching out that hand to try and grab his phone but it was just out of reach. Levi tried to stretch his arm more, but with the heavy weight of Stubborn Bastard laying on him, he was going nowhere.

“Hey fat-ass,” Levi called to the cat on his stomach. “Move it before I kick you off myself.” Stubborn Bastard only meowed in protest as Levi shifted towards the table, feeling himself starting to slip off the couch as he felt his fingers just barely brush the side of his phone. Stubborn Bastard finally relented and got off of Levi, waddling her short legs over to the opposite side of the couch to lay down over there, tucking her paws under her as if to keep them warm. Now free to move around as he pleased, Levi shifted enough to finally be able to grab his phone, snatching it off the coffee table before pushing himself to sit up on the couch, bringing the phone closer.

When Levi turned it on, he had no new notifications which was normal, but Levi remember talking to someone last night and so he typed in his pin quickly before his phone unlocked and opened up to his messages, that’s when he finally remembered that Eren had texted him around 4 in the morning. He opened up the chat and re-read what he had sent last night.

Eren (4:21 AM):  
Everyone is free tonight so we can meet up and train if thats fine? We have a mission tomorrow so you need smething

Eren (4:29 AM):  
Can you make it??

Me (4:31 AM):  
I have work.

Eren (4:32 AM):  
How about 2??

Me (4:32 AM):  
2 works

Eren (4:34 AM):  
Only Armin can make it. Meet up with us at the cafe on 5th street then we’ll take you to the MS frm there

Me: (4:38 AM):  
Fine

That was right, Eren had talked to Levi about meeting up for “training” in the Magic Space. Levi had half hoped he would get a day or two to think about the fact that he had agreed to fight these god damn monsters for as long as it took. He thought about how Eren had been doing this for 10 years already and still he hadn’t “graduated.” He remembered Eren mentioning that Levi should be out of this by next spring if he passed that test he had talked about.

Why the hell had Eren even agreed to this life that would take up the majority of his existence so far? What completed a 9 year old Eren to agree to fight these monsters? If Eren had been recruited in anyway similar to how Levi was, then surely a little boy would be scared out of his mind and immediately refuse right? Or maybe it was what Eren had been waiting for. Kids tended to crave to be a part of something bigger, to do involved in something that no one else did. Maybe this childish impulse is what got Eren wrapped in this mess.

That was one thing Levi did notice about Eren for the few months he had known him, the kid was incredibly impulsive. He rarely thought before he did anything and would dive in head first to any sort of problem that seemed to come up while they worked. Sometimes it would lead to another problem because Eren would run off to do something before hearing any of the instructions he needed to be able to do whatever he was sent off to do. Levi remembered this leading to Eren bringing back either the wrong things and even in some cases, broken machines.

Levi wondered now if that impulsiveness came from his work on in the Magic Space. While Levi was running around with Eren in there, he saw him make quick decisions that while might not all have been the safest or best option, definitely got everyone out of there alive. Levi would guess that was probably the priority in all of their decisions in the Magic Space, as long as everyone walked out of there, any decision would be better than none.

Levi exhaled heavily, letting his hands drop onto his lap as he looked around his living room a bit. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was a bit after 1. Well, at least he had been able to get more than 4 hour of sleep and with all that happened last night, Levi couldn’t be that surprised. Levi realized now how sore his legs were from all the running he did and he sighed, stretching his arms to rub the achy muscles in his legs. Even though Levi found himself to be a rather fit person, the running last night had really pushed the limits of how far he could go.

Levi realized then that Eren hadn’t looked exhausted at any point while he was running with Levi. Not only had he been able to run with Levi at a fast enough past to keep that monster, that ‘Corrupt’ off of them, but he had also been able to do something else that Levi hadn’t been able to see. He remembered hearing fighting, the sound of metal hitting a hard surface and Eren shouting to Mikasa. After that he couldn’t remember anything of what he was hearing, only that he had been dead set on getting out of there.

He also remembered how Eren had kicked him hard on his ribs, Levi reached a hand to the side Eren had kicked and pressed it. It didn’t hurt in the slightest. All the pain and soreness that Levi had expected to felt didn’t come. He knew Eren had said he was healing Levi but he didn’t think it would be as long lasting as thing. Levi thought it would have been a temporary solution but no, it didn’t hurt at all. So much had happened to Levi last night, and it had kept him awake all the way until the morning.

Levi thought back to what else he had been thinking about before sleep finally took him and he recalled that he had been thinking about the voice. The voice that had called to him from the portal and the one that told him to fight. He felt it in his mind that the voice was familiar to him, that it meant a lot to him and that hearing it again had tugged at something within him. He had felt his chest tighten when he had heard it at first, maybe he had missed it?

The voice had sounded so sweet, a voice that comforted Levi even though it spoke so urgently. When he heard the voice he remembered a warm feeling of belonging. He remembered feeling welcomed and looked up to by this voice, and many others. Levi remembered feeling at home when he heard this voice, but he had not heard it since he had gotten the mark. Levi looked down to his left hand, examining the back of it where the mark would have been if Levi had been in the Magic Space. He knew he couldn’t see it while he was nowhere near one, but he wanted to see it again.

He knew what it looked like well at this point, two daggers crossed over each other with the blades pointed towards Levi, but there was something about the way it looked that mesmerize Levi. Levi held onto his left hand, bringing it up closer to his eyes to see if he could possibly make out any sort of remnants of the mark, but there was really nothing. Yesterday it had looked a bit red around where the mark had appeared, but now it was all just pale skin.

Levi began to wonder if he would ever figure out who that voice was in his head when he saw something shift down by his feet. He looked up quickly to see that Stubborn Bastard had gotten up from her spot on the couch and had been trying to climb onto Levi’s leg, but now that Levi was watching her, she slowly retracted her paw, sitting back down on the couch as she stared at Levi. Levi raised an eyebrow at his strange ass cat who now seemed to be looking between his face and his legs. Levi realized that she probably wanted to sleep on Levi’s lap now that he had put his phone down.

“Alright, fine.” Levi relented, patting his thigh a few times so that Stubborn Bastard got the message that she could lay on his lap. She immediately took up his offer, walking on his achy legs before finally settling down on his lap and beginning to purr faintly. Levi pet his way from the top of her head to the end of her tail, watching her flick her tail before she slowly closed her eyes and rested her head on Levi’s thigh as Levi continued to pet Stubborn Bastard.

The reasoning behind Stubborn Bastard’s name was lucky one of the memories Levi had been able to recover early on. When he had gotten the cat 7 years ago, Levi had been unsure of a name for a long time. But soon he figured out that she hated being moved from where she laid down or she wouldn’t stop meowing until she had been given the attention she called for. Levi found himself often calling her a stubborn bastard, so the name stuck. Though, for conversations with people Levi didn’t know well, he referred to her as Sib. 

Stubborn Bastard was the reason Levi wasn’t still stuck in his room, upset about his missing memories. In those first few weeks after he was released from the hospital, Levi hadn’t wanted to even try and find out more about his life. He would spend hours on end just lying in his bed and feeling sorry for the man he was turning into. He would yell at himself for not moving, for not even trying, but only one thing worked to get him out of bed during that time: Stubborn Bastard. 

She would always come to get Levi’s attention when she needed something. Whether it was food, water, to have her boxes cleaned or even to be cuddled, Stubborn Bastard seemed to keep pushing Levi and it was just doing what she needed that got Levi to finally crawl out of his bed and do something better than moping around. And thankfully, Stubborn Bastard was, well, stubborn. She would come to Levi so often after the first week that even the minute Levi let his head hit in the pillow to willow away, Stubborn Bastard would be right there, whining and meowing until Levi finally got off his ass to play with her or just get out of his room. So Levi didn’t mind being pulled out of his room anymore, might as well do something productive than just lay around and think about things he couldn’t fix.

But maybe he could fix them now. He had been told by the voice that if he fought to live he could find his answers, so maybe they lied within that world? Levi pulled up his left hand that had been petting Stubborn Bastard and stared once more to the ring that sat on his finger. With his right hand he gently ran his finger over the warm surface of the ring, wondering if he could really get what he needed from fighting in the Magic Space. Would Levi truly be able to remember what he had lost just by becoming stronger and working with Eren and his team? Would he finally be able to know why whoever had given him this ring had done nothing to tell Levi of their existence after the accident?

Levi’s reminiscing was interrupted by a chiming from another room in his apartment. He raised his head and realized it was the clock in his office telling him that it was half an hour into whatever hour it was. Levi paused trying to recall what time it was off the top his head. He picked up his phone and turned it on to realize it was 1:30. Levi was supposed to meet up with Eren at 2.

“Fuck, shit.” Levi rushed out, sitting up quickly to hear Stubborn Bastard meow in protest before jumping off of Levi and scurrying away into another room. Levi still hadn’t changed his clothes from yesterday and he knew he probably looked as bad as he felt. He hurried into his bed room, looking for the first time in the mirror since he came home last night. Other than the fact that his hair was sticking up in a bunch of different directions, as least he didn’t look more tired than he usually did. But looking in the mirror finally gave Levi the chance to realize the damage the Corrupt had done to his shirt.

The dark blue fabric of the t-shirt was torn at the front of his shoulders, three claw marks on each side tearing through the material and destroying the material. How the hell had Levi not noticed the mark earlier? Was he really that out of it when he came into his apartment? Damn, and he actually kind of liked this shirt. He exhaled heavily, yanking the shirt over his head quickly and throwing it on his bed, telling himself he’d throw it away later.

He opened up one the drawers of his dresser and pulled out another t-shirt, this one being black with some pointless brand logo on the front. He glanced to his jeans quickly and after seeing that there were no tears in those, he decided he could wear them one more day without needing to wash them. Though he really should with having warn them in that place and all. But he didn’t have time, so he just left his bedroom like that, grabbing his wallet and shoving it in his back pocket while he went to the bathroom.

He turned on the sink, holding his hand under the water until it wasn’t unbearably cold and then dipping his head down to let the water run over his hair, since he couldn’t get it stay down without it being wet. He ran his fingers through the longer part of his undercut a few time, until he knew it was all wet before turning off the sink and grabbing a towel he had hanging on the wall next, and then drying his hair as much as he could with it. He hung the towel back up before grabbing his brush and watched in the mirror as he finally managed to tame his hair, getting it to lay down instead of poking all over the place.

Levi ran his fingers through his hair a few times so that it wouldn’t lie flat on his head before he deemed it good enough. He could shower before he went to work tonight, that way he could wash away all the grime from today and yesterday. Levi left the bathroom and went back to the living room to grab his phone, putting it in his other back pocket. Stubborn Bastard had come out of her hiding place and was now sitting by the front hallway of the apartment, waiting to say goodbye.

“I’ll feed you one I’m back,” Levi told the cat, grabbing his keys off a small table and putting them in his front pocket. “Don’t try and get into the cabinets again.” Stubborn Bastard gave a loud, long meow in reply before coming forward to nudge her head on Levi’s lower leg before trotting back off to the living room. Levi left his apartment, and then closed the door behind him. He locked it before heading down the hallway and to the end where the stairs to the garage and lower floors were.

Levi pulled out his phone to check the time as he contemplated taking his car or not. If he walked, he’d be late for sure. 5th street was at least a good 20 minute walk from his house if all the lights were green, and he didn’t even get the name of the café from Eren. But if he drove there he’d have to deal with parking in the city and god knows how long this “training” was supposed to be, so even though it pissed him off to be late, Levi decided it would just be better to walk.

He reached the first floor of the apartment building, coming out of the stairwell and then heading towards the main door. Outside he could see it was awfully sunny and judging from how the weather was yesterday, it was going to be muggy as hell once again. It wasn’t that Levi didn’t like sunny days, only lunatics hated good weather, it just that he couldn’t stand getting sweaty for no good reason. Levi mentally braced himself with a heavy sigh before he opened the front door went out on the sidewalk.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t as horrible as Levi thought it would be. Sure it was still hot, but it wasn’t humid today and a cool breeze moved through the city. Lucky him. Levi began walking toward 5th street, hoping that there wasn’t more than one café so that he didn’t have to go looking in all of them like an idiot. He checked his phone again and opened up the messages he had sent to Eren. All it said was the café on 5th street, so either it was the only one Eren knew, or it was the only one on the street. Levi shoved his phone back in his pocket and continued walking.

As Levi continued to walk, seeming to run into every single red light on the way there, he began to wonder what exactly this training was supposed to be like. Eren said Levi had a lot of ground to cover, so obviously it wasn’t going to be easy. But what sort of things do they train people for? One of the things Levi thought he needed to work on was his ability to use those daggers. He had been able to call them so easily, but when he tried to do it later, they wouldn’t appear. Eren said it had been because Levi was tired, so that could be the starting point. To make it easy for Levi to handle these ‘new powers’ of his.

He hadn’t gotten the chance to see what any of the others could do. Levi had barely seen what Mikasa was doing as she came toward Eren and him. Levi knew that Jean was a Sword, and he could see the weapon on his hip, but he still had no clue what that blonde kid was. Eren was trying to explain to him what all those other marks on his hand were but they had been interrupted by Mikasa. Just thinking about the way Mikasa had been glaring at him left a sour taste in Levi’s mouth. Eren had said it was because of the fact that Levi might drag them back, but no one would make such a venomous gaze for something like that.

Whoever the hell that girl was, Levi was not going to put up with her piss poor attitude just because they were supposed to work together. If she had a problem with Levi, she had to say it herself, to his face instead of just pouting and being grumpy for no reason. Or it could be that she was like that all the time. Always angry, always pissed off with other people. Probably not considering how Eren seemed to be get along with her, or maybe he was just the same way. Levi had no idea, and honestly, he had no want to know.

Levi pulled himself out of his thoughts long enough to notice that he had just walked past the tea shop, which meant that he was getting close. 5th street was only a few more blocks down and then all Levi would have to figure out is where on 5th street the café was. And as Levi thought, he remembered something from last night. As Eren turned to head back home, he was heading back the way he came. Between Levi’s apartments and the tea shop there weren’t very many places to live. Levi wondered how far Eren had to walk to get to his house. Levi shrugged it off, remember that Eren had said he had walked it before, kid was probably used to it.

As Levi approached the street Eren told him to meet them at, he noticed someone standing outside of a shop on the corner of the street. Someone that Levi recognized. He couldn’t tell who it was from this far away, but he had a pretty good idea since he hadn’t ever met a man with long hair like that before yesterday. Lucky now the traffic lights seemed to be complying and staying green for Levi as he finally crossed over into 5th street when he recognized the person as Armin. And just as Levi got to the street, Armin lifted his head and noticed him.

Armin gave a quick, nervous wave of his hand as Levi approached the shop. Once Levi was in front of the café Armin spoke up since he was now in ear shot. “Hey there, Eren and the others are inside.” Armin pointed his thumb towards the café and Levi took a glance inside to spot Eren sitting next to Mikasa towards the back of the café, hunched over something on the table and then scribbling something down. “Hold on, I’ll grab his attention.” Armin turned towards the window and seemed to keep staring at Eren which eventually paid off when Eren raised his head to grab his drink and spotted Armin outside.

When Eren was finally looking outside Armin waved his hand before pointing to Levi a few times which caught made Eren look at Levi and for him to jolt up his seat. Levi saw Eren speak to Mikasa quickly, grabbing the things off the table and shoving them into his backpack before standing up to sling it over his shoulder. Eren was about to head for the door when something stopped him and he skidded back to a stop to look at the person who had been sitting across from him.

Levi hadn’t noticed that Jean had been there too until he saw the man turned towards Eren and talked to him for a bit which Eren responded to by laughing and shaking his head before finally heading towards the front door and coming out to where Armin and Levi were still waiting. “Hey, did I keep you waiting long?” Eren asked, fixing the straps of his backpack to sit on his shoulders comfortably while looking between Levi and Armin.

Levi shook his head and Armin answers Eren a bit more clearly. “Levi just got here, so not long at all.” Eren nodded and gave a quick ‘ah-ha’ before he pulled his backpack off his shoulder and then rummaged around in the front pocket for a while before pulling something out and walking over to Levi.

“This look okay to you?” Eren asked, holding the thing up for Levi to see. What Eren was now holding between his thumb and middle finger was a silver ear cuff with two horizontal lines running through it. The style of it was simple enough, and thought of how he would jump at the chance to have it if he had been younger. But he hadn’t worn jewelry like that in ages. Levi only narrowed his eyes at Eren because he had no clue why on earth Eren was giving him an ear cuff, but he could see that Eren seemed to be holding the answer on his tongue and so Levi thought he would tell him as soon as he answered.

“Yeah, sure.” Levi breathed out finally and Eren nodded putting the ear cuff back in his backpack before zipping it closed and then slinging it over his shoulder.

“I thought it’d look best. We infuse ear cuffs with magic so that we can use them to communicate with each other in the Magic Space. I’ll show you how once I have it finished.” Eren explained, straightening out the straps of his bag before shifting and then flashing a quick smile to Levi and Armin. “Alrighty then, let’s get some training in.” Eren turned on his heel and started down the sidewalk, Levi catching up to him and no time as Armin moved to walk just behind Eren to his right.

“How long is this going to take?” Levi asked, not wanting to be kept for too long when he knew he wanted to get a few things done before leaving for work that night. Eren thinned his lips as he hummed in thought for a second, drumming his fingers on the straps of his backpack.

“Not long really, we just need to teach you the basics. And you’ll learn more on your first mission tomorrow.” Eren replied, taking a glance at Levi but keeping most of his attention on the street in front of him. “We’re just gonna work on summoning your weapons today and gauging how strong your powers are. We’ll also talk about how fighting the Corrupt works and the rank system.”

Levi nodded and noticed how Eren looked around over his shoulders before gesturing for Armin and Levi to follow him into a nearby alleyway. Once they were in far enough for it to be darker than the sunny sidewalk, Eren reached into his shirt and then threw whatever he had grabbed with a flick of his wrist, further into the alley. Before Levi could even ask what that had just been, he saw something black and flat spinning quickly in mid-air that was accompanied by a faint humming sound. Suddenly from the object grew the same swirling blue portal he had seen last night. Levi had no time to make any sort of comment before Armin jumped into the portal and Eren held out his hand towards Levi.

“C’mon, we gotta get in before anyone sees us.” Eren said quickly, glancing behind Levi to check the street and Levi didn’t even argue with him on that. He hurried forward and he felt Eren’s hand on his back as he was pushed into the whirring blue. Just like last time as Levi went through he was plunged into darkness where he could feel or hear nothing until a whooshing sound came and he found himself on the other side. He saw Armin standing in the white cloak from yesterday, and just after his eyes adjusted to the new lighting, he realized he had never been in this part of the Magic Space before.

Levi found himself now in a room made of stone with 5 archways on the other side of the room. The room was shaped like a half circle, the flat side of it being where the portal he came out of just now was on and the curve being where the other doors were. Except for, they weren’t really doors. Levi couldn’t see anything beyond the arches, behind it there was only an unending darkness that made Levi anxious in a way that he couldn’t really explain. He felt like one of those monsters could come out of them at any moment.

Before Levi could think on it more, he heard a hard whooshing sound and looked back to see that Eren was behind him and that the portal was now gone. Eren tucked whatever he had used to open it back into his shirt and Levi noticed he too was dressed in those strange black clothes again. Eren glanced to Levi and looked him up and down before giving a smile. “Your uniform looks nice, it suits you.” Eren gestured to Levi and he felt himself becoming confused.

Levi looked down to see what Eren was talking about when he realized his clothes had been changed. Instead of his jeans and t-shirt Levi was dressed in heavy black boots that came up to just below his knee. His jeans had been swapped out for black pants that hugged his legs tightly and a belt with a dark steel buckle and pouches on his hips. He was also wearing a top that fitted him well, but was still easy to move around in, noticing leather bracers on his lower arms and black fingerless gloves. Levi brought his hands up to the collar of his jacket, feeling that it covered his neck and that it had a hood connected.

The colors of his uniform were all dark, ranging from black to dark grey and Levi guessed that might have had to do with him being ‘the stealth of the team’. Levi glanced up to Eren and Eren spoke immediately, as if being able to read Levi’s confusion easily. “Uniforms usually come as soon as you get your mark, but it probably came late for you cause you got yours differently.” Levi looked back down to his clothes, tugging at them a bit to feel at the fabric which was thick, but not even remotely rough. “Does it feel weird?” Eren asked, leaning towards Levi until he finally spoke up.

“I was expecting something stupider looking.” Levi confessed, letting go of his clothes and just letting his hands fall to his sides. Eren laughed at Levi’s response, looking into the room and then heading over to the archway on the far left and pulling out the thing from his chest again. Armin and Levi followed after Eren, watching him place the flat black object against the darkness until it spun by itself and then opened up, this time into a light grey portal.

Eren glanced over his shoulder at Levi and Armin, flashing a look to Armin that Levi didn’t quiet catch before he walked in, vanishing into the swirling grey that seemed to ripple as Eren disrupted the surface, but evened out as it passed. Armin waved his arm towards the portal, giving Levi the go-ahead to walk in before him and Levi didn’t argue with that either, just stepping inside the color before coming out this time into a much brighter room.

This room was tall and wide, still in a circular shape but instead of stone, Levi couldn’t tell exactly what it was made out of, only that it was entirely white. The place was brightly lit but just like the tunnel from the night before he couldn’t find the source of the light. Armin came in behind Levi as he noticed Eren reaching under his jacket and digging around for a moment before pulling out something small and holding it between his lips to go digging on the other side of his coat. Eren turned around to look at Armin and nodded his head.

“You wanna get him started by helping him figure out his daggers?” Eren’s voice was a bit hard to understand with whatever he was holding between his lips but Armin nodded back, Eren going off to the side of the room as he pulled the thing out from his lips and then bring it to his palm once more. Levi realize that Eren was probably going to work on that ear cuff and that he was going to leave Levi alone to Armin which irked him. He barely knew the guy and he had no idea how Armin would have any idea how to help him get his powers under control, but Levi had no room to complain because soon Armin was walking out to the middle of the room and Levi followed him, just wanting to get all of this over with.

“Okay,” Armin exhaled heavily, playing with his sleeves for a moment to try and move them out of the way. “So summoning your weapon should be really easy because it’s attached to will power. If you think that you want to summon it, it should appear unless deep down you really don’t want to.” Armin held out his hands, displaying them in a relaxed manner. “It should come easily, like this.” He finished before taking a deep breath and then exhaling slowly. From the palms of Armin’s hands Levi heard a sort of trickling sound before water seemed to flow from the gloves and then glide over his fingers.

Levi stared at Armin’s hands as he turned them over, letting the water travel over the glove. Levi could see droplets of it floating around his hands as well and Levi would have been stunned honestly if he hadn’t already heard the whole magic angle. And just as soon as Armin had called forth that water, he gave a wave of his hand and it disappeared. Armin held out his hands like a magician would, to show that they were completely empty before he gestured to Levi.

“Go ahead and give it a try.” Armin encouraged and Levi felt like all of this magic stuff was easier said than done. He looked down to his hands now, remembering how he hadn’t been able to summon them after that first time. He took a deep, uncomfortable breath before he gave that same flick of the wrist and waited for the daggers to come.

But they didn’t. Levi furrowed his brow and tried again but still nothing. He kept trying to call those daggers forward, trying to focus on how he wanted them to show up already but even after the 7th try, they wouldn’t come. Levi was about to grumble out his frustration when Eren’s voice cut him off. “Did you sleep okay last night?”

Levi looked over his shoulder to find Eren sitting down against the wall, his right leg propped up close to his chest while his left leg laid out straight as he fiddled with the ear cuff. Levi knew he didn’t sleep well for a normal person, but for him it was a normal night of sleep. “If you call sleeping on a couch okay.” Eren shrugged but nodded in the end.

“Sleeping is how we get our powers back.” Eren explained putting his work down on his knee. “Did you have a nightmare?” Levi shook his head and Eren nodded again, pointing to Levi’s hand. “Then you should be fine. New Weapons get their powers back quickly so it should be there. Try thinking about what you felt when you summoned them last.” Eren picked up the metal on his knee again, turning his attention there and Levi turned back to Armin, trying to recollect last night.

To him, most of it was an adrenaline rushed blur, but as he thought back he remembered feeling that burn from his mark. How it had traveled up his arm and then into his chest, hitting his heart. He remembered the voice in his head telling him to fight for his life. To fight for his answers and Levi took a deep breath, this time letting it out evenly before he focused on summoning the daggers again. He closed his eyes, trying to remember how the burn had felt and as he did he swore he could feel it now in his hand. The burning in his mark and then feeling it take over his body slowly.

It wasn’t as powerful as it was last night but Levi felt warm all over and he focused his thoughts. Knowing why he had agreed to all of this in the first place. He wanted to know about his past life. He wanted to figure out what had left him like this and if the answer was in a place like this, then Levi was going to fight for it. He flicked his wrists forward and this time he heard a quick hum before he felt himself grab onto two handles and he opened his eyes. Finally, Levi could see two daggers sitting comfortably in his hands.

Levi could hear Armin clapping faintly, the sound muffled by his gloves but just slightly appreciated in this situation. It felt stupid that Levi had to think that hard on summoning them, but he wasn’t going to knock himself down because it took him a while. Levi looked up to Armin who brought his hands down before glancing behind Levi. Levi looked back and saw Eren giving a thumbs up before setting both of his legs down on the ground. Eren seemed to think for a second before he laughed faintly and then jerked his head towards Armin. “Wanna see if he can throw them yet?”

Armin made a faint sound of disagreement, moving his hand in a so-so manner. “I don’t think he’s strong enough yet.” Armin muttered out and Eren scoffed, Levi finding himself looking between the two of them.

“I think he is, you should have seen how high he jumped.” Eren seemed to laugh to himself before looking to Levi. “Hey Levi, I have a deal for you.” Levi kept his gaze on Eren and as he pointed towards Armin. “If you can get a dagger to stick to Armin, I’ll answer one question of your with no limitations.”

Oh, that was very tempting. But Levi still remembered how closed up Eren was last night so he felt like no matter what Eren said, there was always some sort of limit. “Any question?” Levi clarified and Eren nodded, holding his work still to give Levi his full attention. Levi still didn’t believe him one bit. “Like, any question?”

Eren nodded his head slowly this time, making sure to emphasize the movement so Levi would see it. “I’ll even talk about the Court if you want.” Eren promised, putting his work on his leg and that was all the encouragement Levi needed. He turned back to Armin who stared wide eyed between Eren and Levi.

“Uuuuh, so you’re just gonna this guy throw daggers at me?” Armin almost squeaked in disbelief, pointing at Levi. “What if he kills me?”

“I highly doubt he can hurt you at this point, and if he does that’s why I’m here. He’s not going to kill you Armin, you’ll be just fine.” Eren put his focus on the ear cuff again and Armin let out another sound that expressed his concern in the deal. Eren waved him off and Levi kind of felt bad for the guy. Levi had no idea if he could even be strong enough to reach Armin at this distance, and he had no idea what Armin had under his cloak. Levi could end up seriously hurting the guy but Eren seemed really nonchalant about it so Levi guessed that whatever was under there could protect Armin.

Levi looked back down to the daggers in his hand before finally settling himself to try and land a hit on Armin. He really did feel kind of bad, but if he could get one answer then he was gonna get it, even if it ended up getting someone else hurt. And it was true, Eren was here, if Armin did get hurt Eren could heal him right up. Levi paid attention to the dagger in his right hand, deciding on just trying to throw one of them for right now as Armin stiffen, clenching his fists by his side and holding his stance nervously.

Levi tried to call on whatever strength he had been given last night as he tried to throw the dagger in a manner that reminded him of playing darts. Levi had been trying to aim for Armin’s stomach, thinking that would be the safest place to aim for that couldn’t get the guy hurt badly and as Levi let the dagger go, he felt pretty good about the strength he put into the throw.

That is, until the dagger seemed to twirl in mid-air and only the hilt hit Armin, the faint blow giving a soft clinking sound before the dagger clattered to the floor lamely. The dagger didn’t even graze the guy. From behind him Levi could hear Eren trying to hold back his laughter and he felt anger boiling in his stomach. He shoot a glare back at the kid who immediately cleared his throat, turning his head down to the work in his hand. Levi turned towards Armin again, feeling ridiculous for even trying to do something that no one around him thought he could do. No wonder Eren had offered to answer any question, he didn’t think Levi could do it.

And that made Levi angry with himself. He didn’t want to look like a damn idiot for trying to do that but he was way too stubborn to give up here and Armin seemed to noticed that because he steeled himself again, almost wincing as he looked at Levi. Levi imagined he looked pretty pissed off right because really, he was. He held onto the final dagger in his left hand before looking to Armin again. He was going to do everything in his power to make this one at least hit him right, he refused to look like a fool here.

Levi reared himself up, feeling that heat inside of his chest travel through his arm as he pulled it back, before letting it rush forward out of his hand. The dagger moved too fast for Levi to watch and his vision seemed to blur which made it even harder to pay attention, his head feeling dizzy from that strange rush of energy but he snapped back where he heard a hard ‘thunk’ and then a quick screech from Armin. His eyes focused finally and he could see why Armin had gone rigid, his face near mortification as he stared blankly at Levi.

Lodged into Armin’s shoulder was the dagger that Levi had thrown. It didn’t even shift one, it was solidly stuck to whatever it had hit. It had gone through the fabric of his cloak and as Levi stared he didn’t see any blood come out but Armin still hadn’t moved, only seemed to quake before his voice came out, shaky and uneven. “E-E-Eren?” Levi didn’t even dare look behind himself, but he could hear Eren shift. “I think it went through the armor.”

Levi couldn’t remember if it was him or Eren who had said: “Oh, shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked that suuuper long chapter and I hope that I can get Chapter 5 up sometime before I head back to America. I'm still overseas in Austria taking care of my Grandmother and I've just been so busy over here that I haven't had a whole lot of time to write, and whenever I did, the work just didn't feel right. I ended up writing this chapter about 3 times before getting it done like this, hopefully the next chapters will be much easier to write.
> 
> I hope you all have a good holiday season and I'll be seeing you guys in the next update!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, look at this! Chapter 5 coming out not two months late! I wanted to finish this before I headed back to America and so here you guys go! Chapter 5 of Our Last Hope!
> 
>  
> 
> Eren's P.O.V

Eren never should have dared Levi to throw his dagger at Armin. Sure Eren had been able to figure out that Levi was just as strong as he looked, and that he had really good aim, but Armin was probably now terrified of the man which was the last thing Eren needed. It was going to be hard enough to find a way to make Levi socialize with all of them considering their age gap. Levi was almost 40 years old now and the rest of them were in their early twenties besides Eren, plus Levi never seemed to enjoy spending time with people he didn’t know well so Eren would have to work not only to train Levi, but to make him feel comfortable in the group.

Eren sighed heavily, leaning back in his seat to try and dig his head out of what happened yesterday and instead on the work in front of him. Eren was sitting at the small desk in his room, hovering over his old strategies for fighting the Corrupt and trying to figure out how to incorporate Levi in all of them. Beforehand, Eren’s team had been a pretty balanced team with a Sword, a Brawler, a Mage, and a Shield. Levi didn’t exactly thrown them off that balance, but he did give them the ability to use a whole lot of new strategies so that’s why Eren was stuck.

He was trying to remember all of the ones he had used with old teams but nothing simple was coming to mind. All the ones he recalled required specific Weapons to help out and Eren only had the team he was working with. So Eren was forced to come up with brand new strategies which he hadn’t done in half a year, not since Jean had joined their team back in February. Jean was easy to mix in since he was a Sword, but Levi would be much harder since he was entirely new.

Levi had almost no idea of how fighting in the Magic Space worked besides what Eren had taught him yesterday. He had just told him about the regular missions and barely mentioned the fact that there were other types of missions too. He taught Levi how to draw back his weapons if he threw them and how to use the communicator once Armin had finished it. After the incident where Levi’s dagger went through Armin’s armor, once Eren had found out it hadn’t hurt Armin other than just a scratch he gave him the ear cuff and told him to finish it while he took over Levi’s training.

Levi had looked so shocked and became quiet after that, so Eren was stuck calling himself an idiot because really, he was. Why the hell did he think that was a good idea? Levi had been so quiet that he never asked for that free answer but if Levi ever brought it up, Eren would keep his promise. Levi deserved that much after what Eren made him do. Just remembering all that had happened caused Eren to groan, slapping a hand over his eyes and sinking further in his chair, until his legs were outstretched under the desk and his back was curved in an unnatural position.

Eren had already been working on this for hours, ever since he had woken up. He glanced over to the small digital clock he had on the edge of his desk and red that it was already past 1 pm. Realizing that he had been working on this for almost 6 hours already made Eren deflate even more until only his upper back was touching the seat and his head was on the back of the chair. He kept himself up on his knees, gently turning the chair to try and get any thought process besides how frustrated he was going. He was stuck. Completely and utterly stuck and if nothing good had come up in 6 hours than maybe his brain was fried.

As Eren kept rocking himself slowly trying to get back on track, he noticed a dull pain growing in his lower left leg and he knew he should probably stop sitting as poorly as he was. The other last thing he needed to be dealing with is his leg acting up again. Eren sighed, putting his hands on the chair to push himself back until he was sitting up again and leaned over his desk to look over what he had written, which was barely anything. All he had out was one of the first strategies he written in February with just a few scribbled ideas underneath it. Eren gave another loud, long groan as he finally let his head thunk down on the desk, his brain officially giving up.

He was getting upset at how he couldn’t think of anything he could do with Levi. Eren had worked with a dual wielding Dagger before too, but his old team had been a very powerful and experienced with fighting in the Magic Space and Levi knew nothing. Not to mention that Eren’s current team was, well just as Jean had said: a slapped together team of whatever remained. All the other teams had been killed in the Magic Space, or were well hidden from Eren’s team, or more like Eren’s team was well hidden from them. Eren was on the run from all other teams in the Magic Space because the Court had sent out a bounty for his return to them. The reward was one even Eren could not argue with; automatic graduation from the Magic Space.

Ever since Eren had become the last Shield, he had been on the run not only from the Weapons he couldn’t trust, but also the Court who had given him his mark all those years ago. Eren had been able to remain hidden with his old team, but it was only a matter of time before someone found him. And someone did. Someone did and they tore Eren away from all he had known and now he was forced into a whole new level of hiding. He was lucky he had been able to find Armin and Mikasa after being taken off his old team, but even then he was forced to stay away from the people he had been working with for 5 years, and all because of something Eren didn’t understand.

For the past 20 years the Shield Trial had been rigged, someone within the Court was messing with the trail. The Shield Trial was a final test for all Shields that would lead to the graduation of them and their team, but not a single Shield had walked out alive ever since Eren could remember. All of his friends and mentors had been killed in the Shield Trail and had all warned him to remain hidden from the Court, lest he be assigned to his own trail and slaughtered without answers. And so Eren was sentence to a life of running away from what he couldn’t figure out because now he had lost all the people who were fighting for answers, all of them having been killed in the Trial.

Eren found himself gripping tightly onto his long sleeved shirt, the fabric wrinkling under his fingers as he became overwhelmed with anger once more. Thinking of all those people who had been killed for a reason Eren still didn’t understand after all of these years of hunting. At this point it seemed like Eren had reached a dead end in every direction he ran, he felt like it was only a matter of time before he was found and dragged away. And as he thought about what would happen to him after he was finally found he felt something uncomfortable settle in his stomach causing him to grip tighter onto himself, like he was becoming sick.

He could feel a crackle of energy inside of him and he knew he needed to stop thinking, to just shut off his brain and to give up for now. He couldn’t afford to lose control of his powers here, not with what had caused it. So Eren finally let go of himself, pushing back from his desk and getting up on steady legs to force himself to walk around his room, walking in a square in the open area of his small bedroom. He of course didn’t need much space since he didn’t have a whole lot to put in it, but when it came to calming down, it was horrible to be stuck in his room.

Realizing he should get out of the apartment before he did anything stupid he went to his door and threw it open to walk over to the front door of the apartment, going to grab his shoes. As he passed the living room he noticed someone moving and Eren lifted his head long enough while reaching down to grab his shoes to see Jean looking over the back of the couch at Eren. As he laid eyes on Eren he raised his eyebrows but then Eren could see a stupid smile on Jean’s face that he just knew it would lead to some sort of snarky remark and Eren finally heard it as he was putting his foot into his shoes.

“So Chewbacca finally comes out his den, what’s got you growling like an animal?” Jean put down whatever he had in his hand to rest his elbow on the back of the couch, getting a better look at Eren who only shook his head while making sure the back of his shoe was digging into his heel while he walked.

“I do not sound like Chewbacca.” Eren snapped back, fixing his other shoe before grabbing a green lanyard off the little shoe cubie Jean had brought with him to store his way too many pair of shoes. Eren put his keys around his neck before he heard hear Jean chuckle.

“You can’t groan like 20 times and say you don’t sound like Chewbacca.” Jean looked to Eren’s room before looking back to Eren and tilting his head. “What’s chewing at you Chewie?” Jean was all play when it came to teasing to Eren when he was obviously pissed and of course he would be that way, Jean could easily meet Eren head on if he lost his temper so Eren grew used to it quickly after they had moved in together.

“Can’t think of how to incorporate Levi into our strategies.” Eren finally answered, trying to get the conversation over quickly so he could get outside already. “I’m walking to get my mind off it, anything you need from the store?”

Jean hummed as he thought for a moment, looking back to what he had put down on the coffee table, making no comment about how Eren couldn’t think of anything. He only ever spoke up about it if he didn’t agree with what Eren was thinking which ended up being more times than not. Eren played with the keys on the end of his lanyard, trying to keep his mind on the sound of the metal jingling quietly instead of the Shield Trials or how horrible he was at coming up with new ideas.

“We need more snacks,” Jean replied after a while, leaning forward to pick up the book he had put down, marking the page before getting up and going over to where Eren was. “I’ll go with you, you’ll only end up frying your brain if you go out alone.” Eren scoffed at that, but didn’t argue as Jean came over to grab a black pair of converse and slipped them on before grabbing his keys and wallet which reminded Eren he needed his own wallet if he was planning on buying anything.

Eren headed back to his room quickly, standing in the doorway to look around before he finally spotted his phone and wallet right where he left them on his desk. He picked them up and put them away when noticed his notebook of plans still laying open on his desk. Eren found himself sucked into thinking about how awful his brain was working today before he sighed and reached forward to close the cover, and then pushed it off the other side of the desk and onto the ground. He could pick it up later.

“At this point, it already is.” Eren said, coming out of his room to find Jean with his hand on the door, waiting for Eren so they could head out. Once Eren was back by the shoes, Jean unlocked and opened the door, stepping out but keeping his hand on it so it would stay open for Eren. Eren closed the door behind him, locking it with the key around his neck before slipping the lanyard under his shirt and following Jean down the hallway. The building Jean and Eren lived in was new enough to have an elevator but they almost always took the stairs since they were only on the fourth floor.

When they had finally made it outside into the muggy summer heat, Eren thought he might have a better chance of brainstorming if he threw some ideas around with Jean. Jean had experience with Daggers before and probably knew more strategies than Eren since he used to be in charge of making them in his old team. So once they were heading towards the small grocery store a few blocks from their apartment Eren finally broke the silence. “What strategies did your old team use?”

Jean let out a huff of air in reply, Eren knew it was still kind of hard on Jean to talk about his old team after what had happened to them but Eren knew that wasn’t the reason why Jean sounded just slightly irritated when he spoke. “You mean for like Daggers?” Eren nodded and Jean sighed again, shrugging his shoulders. “We never really used strategies, I’ve told you this before. We made them up on the fly just like you usually do.”

“I know that, duh.” Eren drawled, he’d asked this question before so he really did know. But he was trying to get at those ideas that Jean had made up on the fly to see if he could use those. “I need to figure out strategies so Armin knows what the hell we’re doing.” Eren would gladly be fine with just running head first into most missions, since that’s what they did usually, but Armin was the kind of person who got panicky if there wasn’t a set plan or a backup in case something went wrong.

Jean hummed, bringing a hand up to fix the side of his hair, pushing back the top half of his undercut before it fell back into place. He let his hand drag down the side of his face as he actually seemed to think for a moment but Eren knew he was just trying to look like that so they would stop talking about it. So Eren found himself talking again to force something out of Jean. “If I don’t get anything by tonight we’re screwed. Levi has almost no idea of how to fight in the Magic Space and I don’t think he wants to go in there blind either.”

“Remember that thing I keep telling you?” Jean cut Eren off, looking to him with raised eyebrows as he put his hands in his pockets. Once Eren could see the obviously annoyed look on Jean’s face, he knew exactly what he was talking about. Eren deflated and slouched his shoulders.

“Shut up about the Magic Space?” Eren tried, drawing his eyes back to the street they were walking on but he could still see Jean nod obviously in his peripheral. Eren sighed heavily when he knew Jean wasn’t going to be of any help to him.

“Exactly, shut up about the Magic Space.” Jean answered in an exasperated voice since he’s has to say this to Eren already a hundred times before. Eren did see it as one of his flaws, his inability to think of anything else except the Magic Space, but when he remembered that he’d been a Shield longer than he hadn’t, then it made sense to him. Jean was the only one of them however who could simply tell Eren to shut up, everyone else just tried to make it obvious that they were tired of the topic because they probably were. “You’ll come up with something eventually, stop thinking about it.”

Eren exhaled heavily, rolling his eyes as he felt that same stupid frustration he had felt back in his room. He had decided to go on a walk to try and clear his head, not to rattle it more. “If I’m not thinking about it how the hell am I supposed to come up with a plan for tonight?” Eren shot a glare to Jean who wasn’t even looking his way, rather he was paying attention to something on his phone before swiping his thumb across the screen and putting it away.

“Come back to it later, seriously.” Jean answered harshly, his face scrunching up with the same frustration that Eren was probably feeling right now. “Make up plans after the mission, you’re not gonna know what to do with him until you see him in action. Talk about something else for once.”

“Uh-huh, and what am I supposed to talk about?” Eren rolled his tense shoulders as he kept his hard glare on Jean who obviously noticed it as he gave that stupid smug look back at him. But then he could see Jean contemplate that question for a moment, throwing up a hand and then shrugging.

“I don’t know, the weather?” Jean waved his hand around to try and gesture to the world around him.

“It’s hot as hell and you’re wearing flannel over a t-shirt.”

“Yeah, so?” Jean raised an eyebrow.

“You’re insane.” Eren snorted, never having understood why Jean was so obsessed with the look.

“Okay, firstly says the guy in a long sleeve and a shit ton of leather bracelets.” Jean accused, earning another scoff and a roll of the eyes from Eren. “And secondly, it’s all a part of the look.” Jean tried to prove this by straightening his back and then waving a hand down his torso, showing off a band shirt and the open flannel shirt.

“Ah yes,” Eren nodded with a faint smile playing at his lips, catching Jean’s attention as he put his hands behind his back. “Because dying of heat stroke is all the rage in the hipster culture.”

“I am not a hipster.” Jean’s answer was short and sharp, obviously offended with the comment. It was always one of the buttons Eren knew he could push easily and get the best reaction from, it was so easy to tease Jean about his fashion style.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Eren gasped, speaking in a mocking voice as he brought his hands up to hold them dramatically over his chest, looking to Jean directly. “I completely forgot! You’re not a hipster, you’re just incredibly French!” Eren turned his head away just as dramatically when he heard Jean groan at the comment. That of course, was Eren’s second favorite button to press.

“Fucking unbelievable.” Jean snarled, stuffing his hands into his pockets and Eren couldn’t help the short laugh he let out. He moved to walk closer to Jean, almost leaning into him but immediately Jean leaned out of the way.

“Aww, did I piss off the Frenchie?” Eren pouted, batting his eyelashes at Jean who made another growl before jamming his elbow into Eren’s side. Eren would have exclaimed if he hadn’t been laughing before he gave Jean more space to growl in. “C’mon, you can’t dress the way you do and not be called a hipster. Just admit it, your fashion sense sucks.” Eren drawled out the last word which earned him not only another hard glare but another elbow in the ribs, this one being one Eren couldn’t laugh at.

“You don’t get any say in what fashion style sucks Eren, you buy all your crappy clothes at thrift stores.” Eren found himself walking behind Jean now to avoid any more bruises, but he could tell that Jean saw him shrug at his comment. “You’ve never worn a pair of matching socks in your life.” Jean bit out and knew that it would always eventually get back to this point. Jean always brought up Eren’s sock problem.

“You haven’t even known me my whole life!” Eren exclaimed, watching Jean scoff and mock him before looking forward again. “And I do too wear matching socks, I bet they’re matching right now!”

Just then Eren nearly bumped into Jean because he had stopped in his tracks and spun around to look Eren directly in the eye, stopping all movement towards the store. “I bet you 10 bucks they’re not.” At the bet Eren let out a low whistle, narrowing his eyes at Jean.

“10 bucks over a pair of socks? How broke are you Jean-beau?” Eren clicked his tongue, shooting a mocking look at Jean.

“Nowhere near as broke as you.” Jean replied simply and Eren could shrug.

“Touché.” Eren muttered, trying to think back to this morning to remember if he should go through with the bet. He couldn’t recall exactly what socks he was wearing and he couldn’t really feel how long they were on his legs, but he was almost certain that he was surely wearing matching socks. “Bet ‘cha 5 bucks they are.” Eren smiled, returning that stupid smug look that Jean always seemed to wear when he talked to Eren.

“Bet you 5 bucks they’re not.” Jean agreed, gesturing down to Eren’s shoes and Eren brought his own hands down to his jeans, grabbing the material just under his knee and then silently praying to any god that he was in fact wearing matching socks. Jean and Eren looked down at the same time as Eren pulled up his jeans quickly to reveal that his socks were-.

“Oh,” Eren breathed out.

“They’re not even the same length Eren what the fuck?!” Jean shouted before he immediately burst into laughter. It wasn’t even a quiet laugh either, it caught the attention of anyone going by them and it probably looked ridiculous. Two college kids standing on the street, one of them howling with laughter while the other one was showing off his socks. To be exact, a long striped sock on his left foot and on his right a black one that cut off just above his shoes. As Eren fixed his pants, his face shaded over in embarrassment, Jean was busy holding himself up on a street lamp as he continued laughing with a hand over his eyes.

“Just shut up.” Eren snapped, going over to Jean to smack his shoulder who only seemed to hiccup before he kept laughing. Eren walked past Jean, trying to get him moving by leaving him behind and he didn’t even care to look back where he finally heard Jean wind down, his usually rich, deep laugh fading out but still coming in small faint bursts as he caught up with Eren.

“Oh my god, I’m telling Mikasa.” Jean managed out before he went right back to snickering and Eren sighed heavily only to hear Jean laugh more. Of course he was getting a hoot out of Eren being pissed, he always did. “They need to put you in the zoo or something, that way everyone can see how ridiculous you are.”

“You’re horrible.” Eren shook his head, only hearing Jean laugh more and Eren’s mind went to work on trying to think of some snappy remark before the window to deliver it closed. And since they were already on the same street at the grocery store, Eren took the window almost closing as now. “You should be the one put in the zoo actually,” Eren replied flatly, grabbing the door of the store and pulling it open before looking to Jean back over his shoulder. “Mr. Still has a French accent even though you’ve been in America for 12 years.” Eren stepped through the door, pulling it closed behind him before feeling Jean tug on it.

“I do not still have an accent!”

 

 

As Jean had suggested, Eren gave no more thought to strategies that day until he was now waiting with Jean, Mikasa and Armin outside of an alleyway waiting for Levi. Eren had message Levi to meet up with them at this area at 8:30 pm, so it really shouldn’t be much longer until he showed up. Armin was occupying his time with a book, Mikasa playing with the ends of her hair, and Jean was scrolling around on his phone, leaving Eren to just lean up against the wall and try to think of any last minute plans. So far, he only knew who would be going with Armin.

He knew he shouldn’t leave Levi alone for his first mission, but he knew he might have to break off from him, so maybe he could make Jean stick with him and Levi so that Levi wouldn’t be on his own if Eren left. Eren was aware Levi didn’t want to babied but he also knew he had little choice if he wanted Levi to keep fighting. He had already spooked Levi the last two times he was in the Magic Space, he needed this time to go much better.

“Eren, I can literally hear your brain dying.” Jean muttered, not even lifting his head from his screen to address Eren who couldn’t deny it. At this point he would get a horrible headache from how hard he was thinking. “Give it a break.”

“Just trying to get a base idea…” Eren replied quietly, finally seeing Jean lift his head and bring his phone down.

“And?” Jean pressed, turning the screen off and tilting his head.

“I think you and I’ll stay on Levi during the mission so if Mikasa or Armin need me, he won’t be alone.” Eren answered slowly, leaning back against the brick wall more, watching Jean’s face to see if he approved of it or not. Jean didn’t responded immediately, seeming to toss the idea around in his head before nodding once.

“Sounds fine to me.” He cleared his throat, and looked up to Mikasa who nodded back, agreeing with the plan as well before she went back to scuffing her shoe on the ground. Jean lifted his phone again, leaving Eren to go back to fiddling with his keys, knowing he shouldn’t be bothering Jean right now since he was still kind of pissy about the Frenchie comment earlier. Last thing he needed was three pissed off team members.

But even as the silence dragged on, Eren was left feeling like there should be more to say, that they should be talking right now but so far no one was trying to make any friendly conversation. Eren looked down to his keys, watching them shift between his fingers before he noticed Jean slowly lowering his phone and taking a deep breath, contemplating something. Eren raised his head just in time to see Jean look at him.

“I don’t actually still have an accent, do I?” Jean blinked at Eren and he couldn’t help but laugh at how adorable it was that Jean was genuinely worried about something as simple as an accent.

“Of course not,” Eren answered honestly, but he could tell Jean didn’t believe him when he still didn’t let out that deep breath. “I didn’t even hear it until you told me you were born in France. Now I only notice it when you’re talking fast. And don’t worry, all the chicks dig an accent.” Eren teased, shooting a smirk at Jean that finally made the man laugh before tucking away his phone.

“Well that’s a relief, good to know I’m fine when hitting on girls.” Jean sighed, looking across the street and scanning the area. “Too bad it doesn’t work on guys too.” And it was in moments like this that Eren remembered that Jean was not only incredibly French but also incredibly bisexual, Eren always forgot that Jean was probably as gay as Eren at times but it always came back eventually.

“It can work on men too, trust me. I’m just pulling your leg, Jean.” Eren reassured, holding up his hand to tell Jean to relax, seeing Jean’s shoulders deflate and then Eren couldn’t help the smile on his face when his mind kept going. “That’s an English expression by the way,” He coughed, crossing his legs and flashing a toothy grin at Jean. “It means I’m-.”

“I know what it fucking means, Eren!” Jean yelled, throwing his hands up into the air which dragged Armin’s attention out of his book as Eren didn’t even try to suppress his laughter. Jean only seemed to become irritated more when he could see Mikasa stifling a faint snicker and he groaned loudly. “God, why the hell did I agree to stay with you idiots?”

“Because we’re all that’s left?” Armin tried and Jean exhaled, averting his eyes from everyone else’s as he shook his head and put his hands on his hips. That was something he couldn’t argue with. Jean deflated after that, going back to looking around for any signs of Levi before finally he raised his hand and pointed.

“That’s him right?” Jean asked dully, the question directed to Eren who pushed off the wall to see past Mikasa and down the street to see a short figure cross the crosswalk. When Eren recognized the black undercut and sharp features he nodded before stepping into Levi’s view and waving. Levi didn’t wave back, but seemed to lengthen his strides when he noticed that everyone else was waiting for him. Mikasa seemed to finally listen to Eren’s earlier advice and moved out of the way of Levi, going to stand closer to Armin, between him and Eren.

Once Levi reached their group Eren spoke up. “Ready for your first mission?” Levi looked down the alleyway before turning his gaze back to Eren and furrowed his brows.

“If it’s gonna be anything like that shit you pulled yesterday,” He started, and Eren found himself dragged back into a smaller form of the frustration he had felt earlier that day. “Then probably yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should also note that relationships won't start for a few more chapters so I dunno, I'll tell you guys when the sappy stuff starts happening.

**Author's Note:**

> I should note quickly that the POV will change between Levi and Eren from now on, with the occasional other character. POV will be pointed out in the beginning of the notes if it isn't the same as the last chapters.


End file.
